Janet L. Ryan Realty v. Langton, S.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided February 17, 2015·No. 1989 WDA 2013·Unpublished

Opinion

J.A19044/14

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

JANET L. RYAN REALTY, INC., T/D/B/A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CENTURY 21-AMERICAN HERITAGE : PENNSYLVANIA REALTY AND BEYNON & COMPANY : INCORPORATED, :

:

Appellants :

:

v. :

:

SANDRA LANGTON, :

:

Appellee : No. 1989 WDA 2013

Appeal from the Order Entered November 25, 2013 In the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County Civil Division No(s).: 562 of 2012

JANET L. RYAN REALTY, INC., T/D/B/A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CENTURY 21-AMERICAN HERITAGE : PENNSYLVANIA REALTY AND BEYNON & COMPANY : INCORPORATED, :

:

v. :

Appellees, :

:

SANDRA LANGTON, :

:

Appellant : No. 2007 WDA 2013

Appeal from the Order Entered November 25, 2013 In the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County Civil Division No(s).: 562 of 2012

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., OLSON, and FITZGERALD,* JJ.

*

Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.

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MEMORANDUM BY FITZGERALD, J.: FILED FEBRUARY 17, 2015 Appellants/Cross-Appellees, Janet L. Ryan Realty, Inc., trading or doing business as Century 21-American Heritage Realty, and Beynon & Co., Inc. (collectively, “Brokers”) appeal from the orders entered in Westmoreland County Court of Common Pleas resolving their and Appellee/Cross-Appellant, Sandra Langton, motions for summary judgment. Each party alleges numerous trial court errors with respect to the merits. We affirm in part and vacate in part, as set forth below.

We adopt the facts and procedural history set forth by the trial court’s opinion. Trial Ct. Op., 11/25/13, at 1-5. We add that the listing contract required the owners of the property to convey the property title to any purchaser. Ex. B to Brokers’ Compl., 1/27/12. The contract also included language that the undersigned signatories represent they are the sole owners of the property. Id. As the trial court’s opinion noted, only Steven Langton—Langton’s husband—signed the listing contract. Trial Ct. Op. at 2.

Brokers timely appealed, and Langton timely cross-appealed. The trial court did not order the parties to file Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statements, although it filed a Rule 1925(a) decision adopting its prior opinion. Order, 12/18/13. We address Brokers’ appeal first.

Brokers raise the following issues on appeal:

Whether awarding a sales commission to [Brokers] on a sale that occurred more than one year following the termination of their Listing Contract would violate the Real

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Estate Licensing and Registration Act [(“RELRA”)], 63 P.S.

§ 344.503(a)(10).

Whether [Brokers] can receive a sales commission on a sale by Langton to Dent Properties when Century 21 . . .

introduced Michael Dent (the principal of Dent Properties)

to Langton?

Whether [Brokers] were the “efficient procuring cause” of the sale of Langton’s property to Dent Properties, as a result of which they are entitled to a sales commission.

Whether the termination of the Listing Contract only precluded [Brokers] from continuing to display Langton’s property to possible buyers, but did not prevent them from receiving a sales commission if Langton thereafter sold the property to a person or entity that was introduced to her by [Brokers] during the time that the Listing Contract was in full force and effect?

Brokers’ Brief at 4.

We summarize three of Brokers’ arguments in support of all of their issues, as they are interrelated.1 They contend that RELRA does not bar a sales commission if the sale occurred after the listing agreement terminated

1 Brokers’ brief raised four arguments, which do not correspond with the four issues presented. See Pa.R.A.P. 2116, 2119. Its unjust enrichment argument, for example, is not explicitly raised in its four issues. We decline to find waiver, however. See PHH Mortg. Corp. v. Powell, 100 A.3d 611, 615 (Pa. Super. 2014) (declining to find waiver for two issues despite numerous violations of appellate briefing rules); see also Commonwealth v. Briggs, 12 A.3d 291, 343 (Pa. 2011) (“The briefing requirements scrupulously delineated in our appellate rules are not mere trifling matters of stylistic preference; rather, they represent a studied determination by our Court and its rules committee of the most efficacious manner by which appellate review may be conducted so that a litigant’s right to judicial review as guaranteed by Article V, Section 9 of our Commonwealth’s Constitution may be properly exercised.”).

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pursuant to a “definite termination date.” See 63 P.S. § 455.604(a)(10). Brokers maintain that the statutory requirement for a “definite termination date” in a listing agreement does not bar a broker from receiving a sales commission “if the property was purchased by someone who was originally shown the property” during the term of the listing agreement but purchased the property after the agreement’s expiration. Brokers’ Brief at 11. They state the court erred by invalidating a “savings clause” that purportedly permitted a post-termination sales commission. Brokers argue they were the “efficient procuring cause of the sale” and showed the property—held as a tenancy by entirety—to a corporate alter ego of the actual purchaser. Id. at 18, 21-22. Langton counters that because she never signed the listing contract, she is not obligated to pay Brokers the sales commission. In essence, Langton contends Brokers’ statutory or contractual arguments are premature. We hold Brokers are not entitled to relief.

In Charlie v. Erie Ins. Exch., 100 A.3d 244 (Pa. Super. 2014), we set forth the well-settled standard of review:

Pennsylvania law provides that summary judgment may be granted only in those cases in which the record clearly shows that no genuine issues of material fact exist and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. The moving party has the burden of proving that no genuine issues of material fact exist. In determining whether to grant summary judgment, the trial court must view the record in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party and must resolve all doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact against the moving party.

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Id. at 250 (citation and punctuation omitted). We can affirm the trial court on any basis. Donnelly v. Bauer, 720 A.2d 447, 454 (Pa. 1998).

In Clingerman v. Sadowski, 519 A.2d 378 (Pa. 1986), our Supreme Court stated the law on a tenancy by the entirety:

A tenancy by the entireties is a unique form of coownership grounded in the common law concept that husband and wife were but one legal entity. It exists when property, either real or personal, is held jointly by a husband and wife, with its essential characteristic being that each spouse is seised of the whole or the entirety and not a divisible part thereof. Neither spouse in a tenancy by the entireties may independently appropriate property to his or her own use to the exclusion of the other, and neither spouse, acting independently, may sever the estate by, for example, conveying part of the property away.

A tenancy by the entireties is also characterized by the right of survivorship; upon the death of one spouse the survivor becomes the sole owner of the entireties property.

Because a tenancy by the entireties is grounded in the unity of the marital relationship, it can be severed only in certain limited circumstances. It is, of course, terminated upon the death of one of the co-tenants. During the parties’ lifetimes it may be severed by: a joint conveyance of the estate, divorce, or mutual agreement, either express or implied.

Id. at 380-81 (footnote and citations omitted).

In Regions Mortg., Inc. v. Muthler, 889 A.2d 39 (Pa. 2005), our high court examined whether a wife could be obligated to pay a mortgage 2 on a property that passed to her upon her husband’s death when she did not

2 A mortgage is a contract. Metro. Life Ins. Co. v. Liberty Ctr. Venture, 650 A.2d 887, 890 (Pa. Super. 1994).

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sign the mortgage. Id. at 40. The Muthler Court set forth the facts, as follows:

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Janet L. Ryan Realty v. Langton, S., (Pa. Ct. App. 2015).

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