Opinion ID: 2073159
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claims Arising out of the Formation of the Contract

Text: On the claims of Counts III and IV of the Drinkwaters' complaint, which arise out of the second factual nucleus, the events leading up to the October 31 dispute, the summary judgment must also be affirmed. According to the Drinkwaters, Patten misled them when showing them the property and negotiating the purchase and sale contract in late August 1984. In particular, Count IV of their complaint alleges that Patten misrepresented both its plans for the gate easement and the legal effect of the Proposed Declaration it gave the Drinkwaters. On this record we conclude as a matter of law that the Drinkwaters' allegations against Patten regarding these events are not actionable either under the UTPA or in deceit. First, under the UTPA a consumer's relief in a private action is limited to restitution and ... such other equitable relief ... as the court may deem to be necessary and proper. 5 M.R.S.A. § 213(1). The consumer has no private action under the UTPA, even if unfair trade practices have in fact been committed, unless those practices have not only harmed the consumer but also benefited the dealer. See Bartner v. Carter, 405 A.2d 194, 203-04 (Me.1979). The factual similarities between Carter and the case at bar are decisive. In Bartner v. Carter the plaintiffs had responded to an advertisement for a house that overstated the acreage to be sold. They became aware of the misrepresentation, however, while the purchase and sale contract was still executory. The defendant real estate brokers offered to refund the buyers' deposit and rescind the contract, but the buyers chose instead to pay the contract price for the real estate as is, expressly reserving the right to assert whatever legal claim they had to the advertised acreage. Id. at 198. The buyers then sued the brokers, seeking inter alia restitutionary relief under the UTPA. We affirmed the Superior Court's judgment for the brokers. We held that restitution under the UTPA in that factual context involved no remedy beyond the refund of the buyers' deposit, and that the buyers gave up any UTPA remedy by rejecting the brokers' offer to refund the deposit. Id. at 204. Likewise in the case at bar, Patten, in sending the refund check, tendered complete restitution of all benefit it had obtained by the alleged unfair trade practices in negotiating the purchase and sale agreement. By cashing the refund check, the Drinkwaters have already received all they would be entitled to under the UTPA on Count III. Second, the Drinkwaters' affirmation of the sales contract precludes any recovery for deceit on Count IV. Without in any way deciding whether the Drinkwaters' deceit claim on this record could survive summary judgment with respect to the other required elements of a plaintiff's proof in an action for deceit, we conclude from the undisputed facts that the Drinkwaters ultimately did not rely to their detriment on any misrepresentation made by Patten in the course of negotiating the contract. Their deceit claim therefore lacks an essential element. See Rodrigue v. Morin, 377 A.2d 476, 481 (Me.1977). Even if on August 31 the Drinkwaters entered into the purchase and sale agreement on the basis of some misapprehension of the material facts, they ratified that decision after learning the true state of affairs and elected to pay the full contract price for the property. Indeed, even after their second attorney advised them to accept the refund, rescind the contract, and attempt to recover their incidental expenses, the Drinkwaters chose instead to sue for specific performance, manifesting a continuing desire to obtain Lot No. 5 on the very terms of the contract they allege was fraudulently induced. Whether it was in fact fraudulently induced therefore becomes irrelevant. Thus we affirm the summary judgment for defendants on Counts III and IV, being the Drinkwaters' claims under the UTPA and for common law deceit arising out of the events of August 30-31, 1984.