Court Opinion

ID: 9641538
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:34:03.133494+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:38.221130
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. Whether the Multiple Listing Service has altered the traditional concepts of agency in real estate transactions, I have not attempted to fathom. The trial court did not rely on it, though the majority sees it as the basis for the conclusion that Mrs. Whiteman was the seller’s agent as a matter of law, a view I believe is incorrect. Nor do I think the claim of the sellers that the property had “Commercial Potential — Any Type Business” to have been a material misrepresentation in this case, even taking into account the floodplain issue. It is undisputed the buyers were told the property had flooded, that water had entered the house and damaged the carpets. There was no proof the claim of “commercial potential” was intended by the sellers, nor taken by the buyers, to mean anything other than what the phrase implies — potentially usable as commercial property. There was no guarantee of commercial zoning, just as there was no proof that rezoning was an impossibility. Richard Wood of the planning department testified rezoning would have been difficult but not impossible. The buyers could have conditioned their offer on rezoning but they chose not to. As they did not even attempt to obtain a zoning change, for all intents and purposes the zoning issue is moot. The evident fact is these buyers simply changed their mind soon after signing the offer and acceptance agreement. The agreement was signed on October 7,1983 and on October 12 the buyers gave notice they were not going through with the purchase. There was substantial evidence that Mrs. Fennell did not like the property and did not want to buy it. Regardless of how any other issues in this case are decided, the issue that concerns me is the majority’s treatment of the agency problem. New areas of the law of agency present problems as complex as in real estate transactions. Whether an individual is the agent of the buyer or of the seller is rarely static, it may depend on the particular function being performed. The “agent” may be an agent of the principal in one capacity though not in ánother. Walker v. Huckabee, 10 Ark. App. 165, 661 S.W.2d 460 (1983). In some respects real estate agents owe a duty to both buyers and sellers and do not fit neatly into a category readily applicable to all situations. Little v. Rohner, 707 P.2d 1015 (Col. App. 1985). And in a dual capacity, each principal is protected from a disloyal agent by general principles of agency and partnership. See 4 ALR 3d 224, Dual agent — Notice to principal. I believe it is a mistake for this court to hold as a matter of law that Mrs. Whiteman was the agent of the sellers and it is clear the trial court did not treat it as a question of law. The existence of an agency relationship is a question of fact, as countless cases here and elsewhere have held. Hawthorne v. Davis, 268 Ark. 131, 594 S.W.2d 844 (1980); Bell Transportation Co. v. Morehead, 246 Ark. 170, 437 S.W.2d 234 (1969); Campbell v. Bastian, 236 Ark. 205, 365 S.W.2d 249 (1963); Curtis Circulation Co. v. Henderson, 232 Ark. 1029, 342 S.W.2d 89 (1961); Green v. Jones-Murphy Properties, Inc. 232 Ark. 320, 335 S.W.2d 822 (1960); Langston v. Harper, 216 Ark. 778, 227 S.W.2d 973 (1950); Ford & Son Sanitary Co. v. Ransom, 213 Ark. 390, 210 S.W.2d 508 (1948); Walthour v. Pratt, 173 Ark. 617, 292 S.W. 1017 (1927); Bell v. State, 93 Ark. 600, 125 S.W. 1020 (1910). It has been said the ultimate question in agency is determining the intention of the parties. Green v. Jones-Murphy Properties, Inc., supra, AmJur2d, Vol. 3, p. 525, § 21. That being so, how can it be said Mrs. Whiteman was the agent of the sellers as a matter of law? For more than a year she had been employed by the buyers to search for the type of property they wanted. She considered herself the buyers’ agent and Mr. Fennell testified unequivocally that he regarded Mrs. Whiteman as their agent. Mrs. Whiteman signed the offer and acceptance agreement on a line designating her as the buyers’ agent. Finally, the trial court, sitting as fact finder, found her to be the buyers’ agent. How she was to be paid is not revealed in the record, but even if she were to be paid from the proceeds of a purchase, that is simply one element to be considered in determining her status; it is not controlling. Terry Dairy Co. v. Parker, 144 Ark. 401, 223 S.W.6 (1920); Corpus Juris Secundum, Vol. 2A, p. 608, § 40. There may be something to be gained by declaring that agents involved in Multiple Listing Service contracts are the agents of the sellers as a matter of law, but I suspect there will be cases where we will not be entirely comfortable with so categorical a rule. For example, see Little v. Rohner, supra, where the equities and sound logic dictated the listing broker was the agent of the buyer for a particular part of the transaction. Had it previously been settled as a matter of law that the listing broker was the seller’s agent, the court would have been precluded from reaching a just result. The trial court’s findings in this case have not been shown to be clearly erroneous and should be affirmed.