McCarty v. Brown

460 S.W.2d 450, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 1889
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 22, 1970
DocketNo. 494
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 460 S.W.2d 450 (McCarty v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCarty v. Brown, 460 S.W.2d 450, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 1889 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

MOORE, Justice.

This is a suit for a real estate agent’s commission under a written contract, brought by Vera McCarty, a licensed real estate agent, against Verner E. Brown, the owner-seller of the realty. Both parties filed motions for summary judgment; the trial court overruled plaintiff’s motion but granted the motion of defendant, Brown. From this judgment plaintiff, Vera McCarty, perfected this appeal.

The record shows that on June 15, 1967, appellee Verner E. Brown and others as sellers entered into a contract in the form of a letter agreement with H. S. Rosenthal as purchaser for the sale of approximately three acres of land situated in the City of Dallas. The agreement was expressly conditioned upon Rosenthal obtaining on or before the agreed closing on October 1, 1967, the following: (1) a written lease for the property, (2) loan commitments for interim and permanent financing satisfactory to him, and (3) building permits and zoning. Paragraph 5 of the agreement recited the following clause:

“5. It is understood and agreed that all commissions, finder’s fees or other fees due, payable or claimed by any party in connection with the selling of the Property and options to us and the selling of the option property, if we shall exercise the options, shall be paid by us, except that Verner E. Brown has agreed to pay Vera McCarty $15,000 out of the proceed of the note described in (ii) on Page 2 hereof. You represent that you have not engaged any other realtor,”

[451]*451Appellant Vera McCarty was not a party to the foregoing letter agreement.

On June 16, 1967, the day after the foregoing agreement was signed, Vera McCarty and Verner E. Brown entered into a letter agreement with respect to appellant’s commission, as follows:

“June 16, 1967
“Messrs. Verner E. Brown Bill N. Newman and
Frank G. Newman Dallas, Texas
“Gentlemen:
“Attached to this letter is a letter to you from Mr. H. S. Rosenthall, dated June IS, 1967, which you have accepted.
“I propose that if the sale contemplated in paragraph 1 of such letter is closed, that Verner E. Brown pay me a commission of $15,000.00 when the promissory note described in (ii) on page 2 of the said letter is paid in full. Such payment will fully compensate me and discharge any and all claims for commissions which I may have in connection with the sale provided for in paragraph 1 of the letter and any sale which may thereafter be made pursuant to paragraph 4 of the letter.
“In the event the sale provided for in paragraph 1 of the letter is not closed within the time provided therein, or any extension thereof then no commission is to be paid me whatsoever.
“I agree to indemnify you from any claim of commission by Vaughn Rozelle or any other realtor who has become associated with me.
“The payment of the aforementioned $15,000.00 shall also discharge any claim for commission which I may have against H. S. Rosenthall or Midwestern Companies, Inc. in connection with the matters described in the attached letter.
“I request that Mr. Brown sign in the space provided below to indicate his acceptance of the foregoing and agreement thereto.
“Yours very truly,
/s/ Vera McCarty Vera McCarty
“AGREED:
/s/ Verner E. Brown Verner E. Brown”

Upon determining that the sale could not be closed by October 1st the buyer and sellers by written agreement extended the closing date of the sale from October 1st until December 4, 1967. Subsequently Ro-senthal found that he was unable to get interim financing satisfactory to him and he therefore refused to close on December 4, 1967. Brown refused to make any further extension of the contract, and as a result, the contract terminated on that date. Thereafter Rosenthal entered into a joint venture with five other men and new negotiations were commenced. On December 18th a new contract of sale and purchase was executed. Under the new contract appellee agreed to sell to B.R.S.T. Co., a joint venture composed of Herbert S. Ro-senthal, Richard Rosenthal, W. Milton Bludworth, Edwin Tobolowsky, Henry D. Schlinger and Carlisle Blalock. Appellant did not participate in the negotiations leading to the execution of the new contract. Among other provisions the contract of December 18 recited as follows:

“It is understood and agreed that the agreement dated June 15, 1967 and the Contract of Sale dated July 1, 1967 between H. S. Rosenthal, as buyer, and Frank G. Newman, Bill N. Newman and Verner E. Brown, as Sellers, has expired and has not been extended and that the conveyances referred to herein are not pursuant thereto.”

[452]*452The contract of December 18th differs from the old contract in several material respects, to-wit: (1) the consideration in the old contract called for cash and vendor’s lien notes, while the new contract provided for a consideration of a lesser amount of cash and notes with a conveyance to Verner E. Brown of other land, (2) the buyers, with the exception of Rosenthal, were different, (3) in the old contract Rosenthal agreed to be solely responsible for the deferred consideration, while the new contract contained no such provision, and (4) under the old contract Rosenthal agreed to buy Brown’s option covering a portion of the land whereas in the new contract Brown agreed to assign his option to B.R. S.T., who agreed to exercise the option and buy that portion of the land directly from Frank and Bill Newman.

Appellant asserts that the trial court erred in granting appellee a summary judgment and in refusing to grant her a summary judgment for her commission. She argues that since the undisputed evidence shows that she brought the parties together, and a sale was ultimately consummated, she did all she was required to do to earn her commission and was therefore entitled to a summary judgment.

Since neither party asserts any ambiguity, the rights of the parties must be determined from the instruments as written without resort to parol evidence. Steeger v. Beard Drilling, Inc. 371 S.W.2d 684 (Tex.1963).

Our courts have held that in order for a real estate broker to recover for commissions alleged to be due him under his contract, a strict compliance with the terms of Article 6573a, Sec. 28, Vernon’s Ann.Tex.Civ.St., known as the Real Estate License Act, is required. O’Boyle v. DuBose-Killeen Properties, Inc., 430 S.W.2d 273 (Tex.Civ.App., Dallas, 1968, ref. n. r. e.); Hall v. Hard, 160 Tex. 565, 335 S.W.2d 584 (1960).

The outcome of the case turns on the intent of the parties expressed by the language used in the commission agreement.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
460 S.W.2d 450, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 1889, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccarty-v-brown-texapp-1970.