Halvorson v. Real Estate Agency

417 P.3d 473, 290 Or. App. 756
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 14, 2018
DocketA160475
StatusPublished

This text of 417 P.3d 473 (Halvorson v. Real Estate Agency) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Halvorson v. Real Estate Agency, 417 P.3d 473, 290 Or. App. 756 (Or. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

TOOKEY, J.

*757Petitioner seeks judicial review of a final order of the Oregon Real Estate Agency in which the agency concluded that petitioner had violated professional standards and then revoked his real estate broker license. Petitioner asserts, among other things, that the agency erred in issuing a final order based on the administrative law judge's (ALJ) grant of the agency's motion for summary determination because petitioner had raised genuine issues of material fact and the agency was not entitled to a favorable ruling as a matter of law. We conclude that the agency was not entitled to summary determination and, accordingly, we reverse and remand.1

Because this matter is on review from a grant of summary determination for the agency, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to petitioner, the nonmoving party. Wolff v. Board of Psychologist Examiners , 284 Or. App. 792, 800, 395 P.3d 44 (2017).

Petitioner held an active Oregon real estate broker license until March 31, 2013, when he let it expire. His license was associated with Pacific Commercial Group, LLC, which was a real estate brokerage firm formed by petitioner and his brother-in-law, Richard Baek. Richard and his sister Grace Baek, petitioner's then-wife, held two parcels of property in Oregon through two limited liability companies-Baek 124th LLC and Baek Holdings, LLC (the Baek LLCs). At some point, Grace gave petitioner a 25 percent interest in each of the Baek LLCs, such that Richard held 50 percent, Grace held 25 percent, and petitioner held 25 percent interest in each LLC. Petitioner was also the manager of the Baek LLCs.

In March 2010, the Baek LLCs entered into an exclusive listing agreement with petitioner *475to sell the Oregon parcels. By the terms of that agreement, it expired on February 28, 2011, but also provided that the owner of the parcels would pay a commission to the broker if,

*758"within Three Hundred Sixty (360) days after the expiration of this Authorization or any extension hereof, the Property or any interest therein is sold, transferred, or conveyed to any person or entity with whom Broker has negotiated or to whom Broker has submitted the Property prior to such expiration in an effort to effect a transaction ***."

The agreement also provided that,

"[i]f during the term of this Authorization or any extension hereof an escrow is opened or negotiations involving the sale, transfer, or conveyance of the Property have commenced and are continuing, then the term of this Authorization shall be extended for a period through the closing of such escrow, the termination of such negotiations or the consummation of such transaction, provided this Authorization would otherwise have expired during such period."

In his affidavit, petitioner attested that

"I believe that there was a subsequent Listing Agreement which took effect after the [March 2010] Listing Agreement ***. However, I cannot produce the document because Mr. Rutherford, at Richard Baek's request, took all Baek 124th files on May 29, 2012."

In June 2011, the Baek LLCs entered into a purchase and sale agreement with a purchaser for the "front" parcel. That sale required a lot line adjustment and the creation of an easement, which had to be completed before the second "back" parcel could be sold. The sale of the "front" parcel eventually closed in July 2012, and petitioner remained involved in the sale as the broker throughout that time.

In May 2012, petitioner began negotiating with Scott Elliot of Edge Development for the purchase of the "back" parcel. On May 25, 2012, petitioner asked Grace and Mark Rutherford, an employee of Richard, to follow up on an inquiry Elliot had made. In late May or early June 2012, Elliot and Richard signed a letter of intent for Edge to purchase the "back" parcel. Neither the agency nor petitioner submitted evidence to the ALJ as to what transpired with the proposed sale of the "back" parcel to Edge between June and late November 2012.

*759In November 2012, petitioner and Grace began divorce proceedings.

In December 2012, Elliot and Richard executed a purchase and sale agreement to sell the "back" parcel to Edge. That agreement listed Rob Matthews as the Baek LLCs' "listing licensee" for the sale,2 and the sale was submitted for escrow to First American Title Company (First American). Matthews was brought in at the end of November to review the purchase and sale paperwork for Richard, but the final terms of the sale had already been agreed to by Elliot and Richard and written up by Elliot before that time.

Before closing, in March 2013, petitioner sent a demand to the escrow agent for a three percent commission on the sale as the broker for the Baek LLCs on the "back" parcel. Petitioner then, through counsel, followed up with a "Notice of Adverse Interest" to First American claiming an interest in the proceeds of the sale, but petitioner informed First American that he did not wish to hold up the closing of the sale itself. First American informed Richard that it could close the sale, but that it would not release sale proceeds until the Baek LLCs and petitioner came to an agreement. Instead of doing that, Richard terminated the escrow with First American and attempted to get Elliot to agree to close the sale outside of escrow. Elliot declined and, ultimately, the sale closed in August 2013 after Elliot sued the Baek LLCs for specific performance.

With regard to the sale of the "back" parcel to Edge, the agency and petitioner submitted conflicting evidence as to the extent *476of petitioner's involvement. The agency submitted a declaration from Rutherford that had been filed in a separate civil case in which he attested that, on May 29, 2012, petitioner told Rutherford that he was not going to be working on the sale of the "back" parcel and that he would be pulling his broker license from Pacific Commercial Group. The agency also submitted its investigator's interview notes with Elliot, which provided that Elliot said that *760petitioner told him, at some point after entering into the letter of intent, that he was no longer going to be working on the deal.

Petitioner attested in his affidavit that he did not make the statements to Rutherford about resigning as broker; he did not resign as the broker for the sale to Edge; Richard and Grace knew that he continued to advertise the property as the listing broker as of May 2012, had contacts with Elliot on the sale, and expected a commission on the sale; and he had asked Rutherford and Grace in May to follow up with Elliot because he was busy and needed help and not because he had stopped working as the broker.

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Related

Watts v. Oregon State Board of Nursing
386 P.3d 34 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2016)
Wolff v. Board of Psychologist Examiners
395 P.3d 44 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
417 P.3d 473, 290 Or. App. 756, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/halvorson-v-real-estate-agency-orctapp-2018.