Casey v. Jones

Digges, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. In this suit, brought in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, Mike Casey, the real estate broker and the appellant here, seeks to obtain full payment for a check, out of which amount his land sales commission was to be ²⁰⁴ deducted, from Nathan Jones, the defaulting purchaser and appellee, who deposited the draft with him but subsequently refused to honor it. Following a hearing, the trial judge, William B. Bowie, sitting without a jury, denied the broker the remedy he requested and entered a judgment for costs in favor of the appellee. We will affirm that judgment.

In the fall of 1973, Norman Cohen and his brother were desirous of selling their property situated on the George Palmer Highway in East Columbia Park, Prince George’s County, Maryland. Toward that objective, a real estate salesman employed by the appellant’s brokerage firm 1 introduced Jones to the sellers as a prospective purchaser of their land, which presentation eventually resulted in the execution of a contract for the sale of the Cohen property to Jones. As required by this agreement, the buyer provided the broker with a $5,000 deposit in the form of a check payable to Casey, which was to be retained by him until settlement and then, at that time, was “to be applied as part payment” of the $90,000 purchase price. From this point on, as with some of “the best laid schemes o’ mice and men,” 2 things began to fall apart.

The event which directly precipitated this dispute occurred a few weeks prior to the day of the scheduled settlement when Casey presented Jones’ deposit check to the bank for payment, only to have it returned because the drawer lacked sufficient funds in his bank account to honor it. Undeterred, Casey continued to pursue Jones for the deposit money; but the appellee refused to make good on the obligation evidenced by the check because, the buyer maintained, not only was he impecunious at that point (as a result of failing to sell his own land which he had hoped would supply the necessary capital for him to purchase the Cohens’ property), but he also had become disenchanted with the deal altogether after discovering that the actual land area about to be conveyed to him was considerably less than he had ²⁰⁵ been led to believe was to be contained in the bargain. Thus, desiring to secure his broker’s commission, which he concluded would have to be obtained from the $5,000 deposit, Casey brought this suit against the recalcitrant purchaser. The reason why the broker cannot succeed in this case can be found in the sales contract.

By the terms of that agreement, the entire $5,000 earnest money deposit was to “be held by [the] broker until settlement [under the contract] is made[, at which time] . . . the party making settlement is . . . directed to deduct the [6%] commission from the proceeds of the sale and pay same to said Agent.” Since, as the broker recognizes, the purchaser refused to consummate the transaction, the appellant’s entitlement to a full commission, under this contract provision, did not accrue. The sales contract also addresses itself to the rights of the sellers as well as the broker in the event of an unjustifiable default by the purchaser. In this regard the agreement provides: “If the Purchaser shall fail to make full settlement, the deposit herein provided for may be forfeited at the option of the Seller, in which event the Purchaser shall be relieved from further liability hereunder unless the Seller notified the Purchaser and the Agent(s) in writing within 30 days from the date scheduled for settlement of his election to avail himself of any legal or equitable rights, other than the said forfeiture, which he may have under this contract. In the event of the forfeiture of the deposit, the Seller shall allow the Agent(s) one-half thereof as a