Crye-Leike, Inc. v. Sarah A. Carver

415 S.W.3d 808, 2011 WL 2112768, 2011 Tenn. App. LEXIS 282
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedMay 26, 2011
DocketW2010-01601-COA-R3-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by29 cases

This text of 415 S.W.3d 808 (Crye-Leike, Inc. v. Sarah A. Carver) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crye-Leike, Inc. v. Sarah A. Carver, 415 S.W.3d 808, 2011 WL 2112768, 2011 Tenn. App. LEXIS 282 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinions

OPINION

DAVID R. FARMER, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which J. STEVEN STAFFORD, J., joined.

This is a dispute over a real estate sales commission. The seller entered into a six-month exclusive listing agreement with a realty company. The agreement expired on August 21, 2007, one day before the eventual purchasers were shown the property. The realty company filed suit to recover a commission asserting it caused the property to be shown to the purchasers prior to August 21 and, in the alternative, the parties orally and through their actions extended the listing agreement to August 30, 2007. The trial court concluded the realty company was not entitled to a commission under the plain language of the listing agreement because the property [812]*812was not shown or submitted to the purchasers prior to August 21 and the parties did not extend the agreement to August 30. We affirm.

I. Background and Procedural History

In February 2007, the defendant/appel-lee, Sarah Carver, contacted associate real estate broker Stanley Mills about the possibility of selling her home at 9010 Gandy Cove in Memphis, Tennessee (the “Property”). As a result, Ms. Carver entered into an “Exclusive Right to Sell Agreement” (the “Agreement”) with the plaintiff/appellant, Crye-Leike, Inc., a realty company with offices in Shelby County, Tennessee. The Agreement, a form contract that Crye-Leike drafted, contained several detailed provisions governing the parties’ relationship. The Agreement granted Crye-Leike an exclusive right to sell the Property until August 21, 2007. The Agreement also entitled Crye-Leike to a seven percent commission plus an administrative fee “if the Real Estate is sold or exchanged by CRYE-LEIKE, or the undersigned, or any other person, at any price acceptable to the undersigned, during the existence of [the Agreement].” Additionally, the Agreement provided:

12. The sale or exchange of the Real Estate to anyone to whom this property was shown or submitted or to any person to whom CRYE-LEIKE shall have offered the same during the term of this contract, if such sale is consummated within ninety days after its termination, shall be considered a sale effected by said CRYE-LEIKE and shall entitle CRYE-LEIKE to the commission herein agreed to be paid. (This will not apply if the subject property has been listed with another MLS member firm.) Seller agrees that if he fails or refuses to pay when due any sum which may be owing to Crye-Leike pursuant to this Exclusive Right to Sell agreement, he/ she agrees to pay all cost of collection and/or litigation, including a reasonable attorney’s fee.
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24. The parties agree that this contract constitutes their entire agreement and that no oral or implied agreement exists. Any amendments to this agreement shall be made in writing, signed by both parties, and shall be attached to this original agreement and all other copies hereof.

Crye-Leike marketed the Property in several ways during the term of the Agreement. Crye-Leike placed a “For Sale” sign at the Property, took photographs of the Property for use in promotional materials, placed the Property in the Multiple Listing Service (“MLS”) database,1 and advertised the Property for sale on approximately fifty different internet websites. Crye-Leike also showed the Property to a few potential homebuyers. These efforts, however, did not procure a formal offer to purchase the Property during the original term of the Agreement. Shortly before the expiration of the Agreement, however, a couple from Alabama expressed interest in the Property to Barbara Weir, a sales associate with Prudential Collins-Maury, Inc.

The potential homebuyers, Calvin and Waukesha Sammons, contacted Ms. Weir to schedule viewings of homes for sale in Memphis. Mr. Sammons specifically identified the Property as one that he and his wife were interested in seeing.2 Ms. Weir [813]*813thereafter contacted representatives of Crye-Leike on August 21, 2007, to schedule an appointment for her clients to view the Property. As a result, Ms. Weir showed the Property to the Sammonses on the morning of August 22, 2007. The Sammonses viewed the Property a second time that afternoon, a showing Ms. Weir arranged through Crye-Leike’s appointment center. The Sammonses, although later expressing interest to Ms. Weir, did not initially offer to purchase the Property.

Ms. Carver was not present at either showing of the Property and did not know the Sammonses had viewed or expressed interest in the Property until September 12, 2007.3 The Sammonses contacted Ms. Carver at that time — after terminating the services of Ms. Weir — to communicate their interest in purchasing the Property. Additionally, the Sammonses mailed letters to Ms. Carver confirming their interest in the Property and setting forth their proposed terms of sale. On October 2, 2007, Ms. Carver met the Sammonses for the first time in person. After negotiating terms, Ms. Carver executed a contract with the Sammonses to sell the Property for $460,000.4 The sale closed on October 22, 2007.

Crye-Leike demanded upon learning of the sale that Ms. Carver pay a seven percent commission pursuant to the terms of the Agreement and initiated this action after Ms. Carver refused. The realty company alleged it was entitled to a commission because its associate broker, Mr. Mills, participated in or caused the Property to be shown to the Sammonses prior to August 21 and the Sammonses purchased the Property within ninety days of the Agreement’s expiration date. Crye-Leike further alleged in its amended complaint that “through the actions of the plaintiff and defendant, the listing agreement was extended and terminated on August 30, 2007” and, thus, it was entitled to a commission because the August 22 showing occurred within the mutually agreed contractual period. Crye-Leike requested an award of $32,350 for the commission and administrative fee purportedly due under the Agreement, as well as an award of attorney’s fees, prejudgment interest, and costs. Ms. Carver denied all material allegations in her answer, and litigation ensued.

The parties proceeded to a bench trial in April 2010.5 A major dispute at trial concerned whether the parties orally agreed to extend the Agreement. According to Ms. Carver, the Agreement expired on August 21 without any mention of continuing the parties’ relationship. She testified she at no point had a conversation with Mr. Mills about extending the Agreement beyond August 21. Instead, she called Mr. Mills sometime between the expiration of the Agreement and August 30 pointedly to request that he remove her home from the market. And she called a second time on August 30 specifically to request that Crye-Leike remove the “For Sale” sign from her property.6 Mr. Mills offered a [814]*814different version of events. He agreed Ms. Carver called to terminate the listing around August 30 but testified he had previously contacted Ms. Carver about extending the Agreement. According to Mr. Mills, Ms. Carver agreed to extend the listing for “maybe a couple of weeks” and then make up her mind about whether to renew the Agreement. Mr. Mills conceded, however, he did not reduce the alleged oral agreement to writing and he did not attach any signed writing to the original contract.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
415 S.W.3d 808, 2011 WL 2112768, 2011 Tenn. App. LEXIS 282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crye-leike-inc-v-sarah-a-carver-tennctapp-2011.