Hunneman & Co. v. Nigro

2000 Mass. App. Div. 4, 2000 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 2
CourtMassachusetts District Court, Appellate Division
DecidedJanuary 3, 2000
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2000 Mass. App. Div. 4 (Hunneman & Co. v. Nigro) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts District Court, Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hunneman & Co. v. Nigro, 2000 Mass. App. Div. 4, 2000 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 2 (Mass. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

Summerville, J.

This is an action in contract brought by the plaintiff, Hunneman & Company (hereafter, “Hunneman”), a real estate brokerage firm, to recover a sales commission it claims it earned pursuant to a contract with the defendants, Joseph and Mary Nigro (hereafter, “the Nigros” or “sellers”). Summary judgment was entered for the plaintiff and the defendants bring this expedited appeal pursuant to Rule 8A of the District/Municipal Courts Rules for Appellate Division Appeal. The single issue raised is the propriety of the allowance of the motion for summary judgment. We affirm.

The undisputed facts taken from the affidavits and exhibits on the motion for summary judgment are as follows. Hunneman and the Nigros executed an “Exclusive Rights to Sell Listing” (the “Listing Agreement”), on October 4, 1996. The Listing Agreement provided that the Nigros would pay Hunneman a six per cent commission “in the event (hat a buyer was procured by the BROKER, or SELLER, or anyone else in accordance with the terms of the Agreement, ready, willing and able to purchase the property located at 90 Prospect Street, Wakefield MA” (hereafter “the property”). The Listing Agreement stated an asking price of $419,000 “or a lower price acceptable by the seller.”

[5]*5Once the Listing Agreement was signed, Hunneman advertised the property and shortly thereafter introduced the Nigros to Brenda Bennett and Bengt Her-manrud (the “buyers”), who were interested in purchasing their home. On October 28, 1996, the buyers and the Nigros executed a “Contract To Purchase” (hereafter the “CTP”) for an agreed price of $415,000. The CTP was executed on a preprinted form published by the Greater Salem Association of Realtors, Inc. The CTP provided: a description of the property; the purchase price; the nature of the title to be conveyed; and the deposits paid, including a schedule of further deposits to be made both before and during the delivery of deed. The CTP provided a closing date of December 16,1996.

The CTP also included several “special provisions” related to the sale of the property. The first of these related to the identification of certain lighting fixtures and draperies to be included (or excluded) from the sale. The second provided that the sellers “will be allowed to remain in the property at no charge thru [sic] January 16, 1997.” At the bottom of the document the following statement appeared above the signatures of both parties:

NOTICE: THIS IS A LEGAL DOCUMENT THAT CREATES CERTAIN BINDING OBLIGATIONS. IF NOT UNDERSTOOD, SEEK COMPETENT ADVICE.

Immediately above the signatures of both sellers, the following statement appeared:

“This offer is hereby accepted at 4:15 p.m. on October 28,1996.”

On November 15, 1996, counsel for the Nigros received a letter from counsel for the buyers suggesting a $4,000 “credit” for roof repairs and the granting of a driveway easement for the benefit of the buyers. Counsel for the Nigros responded the same day stating that his clients were “not willing to agree to [those] revisions.” This letter made no reference to an intent to reject the sale. Again on the same day (November 15), counsel for the buyers responded by fax stating that the buyers were “willing to concede the roof and driveway issues.”

On November 18, 1996, Nigros’ counsel sent another letter via fax and regular mail to counsel for the buyers stating their position that the request for the $4,000 credit for roof repairs and the driveway easement

resulted in a counter offer to the original Contract to Purchase executed by the parties on October 28, 1996. Consequently, due to my clients’ clear rejection of said counter offer the Contract to Purchase is null and void and there is no longer an agreement between the parties.

Once again, counsel for the buyers immediately responded on the same date (November 18), with the statement that the buyers intended to continue to perform pursuant to the CTP.

Thereafter, counsel for the buyers continued to advise counsel for the Nigros that his clients remained ready and willing to purchase the property in accordance with the CTP and sought assurances that the closing would occur as agreed on December 16, 1996. The buyers attempted to obtain financing to purchase the property, however, any financing arrangement was contingent upon a real estate appraisal. Negotiations finally ended when the Nigros refused to allow such an appraisal to occur. The buyers ultimately abandoned their interest in the sale after the Nigros reimbursed them for out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with their attempt to purchase the property. •

By letter to the Nigros dated December 16, 1996, Hunneman demanded payment of its six percent sales commission in the amount of $24,900 based on the purchase price provided in the CTP. The Nigros refused to pay.

[6]*6The plaintiffs motion for partial summary judgment was brought on a claim of breach of contract. The plaintiff argued that “there is no dispute that during the terms of the Listing Agreement the buyers were procured, and that the buyers were ready, willing and able to purchase the property in accordance with the terms of the Listing Agreement.” In allowing summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff, the motion judge made the following notation:

Upon consideration the exclusive brokerage agreement being fully integrated and defendants’ understanding of its impact being of no account, for the reasons set forth in the memorandum in support of this motion. ALLOWED.

Discussion

Summary judgment is obtainable “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Mass. R. Civ. P., Rule 56(c). “If the moving party establishes the absence of a triable issue, the party opposing the motion must respond and allege specific facts which would establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact in order to defeat the motion.” Pederson v. Time, Inc., 404 Mass. 14, 17 (1989). We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. See Curtis v. School Committee of Falmouth, 420 Mass. 749 (1995).

The issue presented by the motion for summary judgment was Hunneman’s entitlement to a sales commission pursuant to the Listing Agreement reached with the Nigros. The essential terms of that agreement required Hunneman to produce a buyer “ready, willing and able” to pay the listing price of $419,000 for their home “or ... a lower price acceptable by the seller.” The defendants present essentially two arguments in support of their position that the judge erred in allowing summary judgment. Defendants argue that (1) genuine issues of material fact precluded entry of final judgment at this juncture in the proceedings and (2) plaintiff failed to demonstrate that it was entitled to the sales commission as a matter of law.

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Related

Hunneman Real Estate Corp. v. Milhem
2000 Mass. App. Div. 229 (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div., 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2000 Mass. App. Div. 4, 2000 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 2, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hunneman-co-v-nigro-massdistctapp-2000.