Ward v. Taggart

336 P.2d 534 (1959)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ward (P) asked LeRoy Thomsen, a real estate broker, to look for properties that might be of interest to P for purchase. Taggart (D), a real estate broker, told Thomsen that as exclusive agent for Sunset Oil Company he had several acres of land in Los Angeles County for sale. Thomsen said that he had a client who might be interested in acquiring this property. When Thomsen mentioned to D that another broker named Dawson had a 'For Sale' sign on the property, D replied that Sunset had taken the listing away from Dawson. Thomsen submitted an offer for P of $4,000 an acre. D promised to take the offer to Sunset. D then told Thomsen that Sunset had refused the offer and would not take less for the property than $5,000 an acre, one-half in cash. P upped his offer in writing and Thomsen at D's direction, inserted in the offer a provision for payment by Sunset of a 10 percent commission, which D and Thomsen agreed to divide equally. P agreed to the commission. D said the offer has been accepted and presented proposed escrow instructions naming D's business associate, defendant H. M. Jordan, as seller acting for D. D stated that his designation as principal would enable him to 'clear up the Dawson exclusive listing' as well as certain blanket mortgages on the property. When P asked why Jordan was to be the payee of the notes and the beneficiary of the trust deeds, Thomsen replied that D had said the arrangement was prompted by certain tax and other problems of the Sunset Oil Company and that the trust deeds would be turned over to Sunset after the escrow. P paid $360,246 for the 72.0492 acres conveyed to them. After closing P learned that D never had a listing and that he never presented P's offer but has presented his own at $4,000 per acre which Sunset had accepted. D falsely represented to P that the least Sunset would take for the property was $5,000 per acre because he intended to purchase the property from Sunset himself and resell it to plaintiffs at a profit of $1,000 per acre. All the reasons he gave for the unusual handling of the sale were fabrications. All of the money he used to pay Sunset the purchase price came from the P escrow. P sued charging fraud on the part of D and Jordan. The case was tried without a jury, and the court entered judgment against both defendants for $72,049.20 compensatory damages, and against D for $36,000 exemplary damages. The judgment also enjoined Ds from transferring notes, and trust deeds received from P and ordered them to discharge these and thereby reduce the amount of the judgment. Ds appealed.