Restipo v. Pastor

• Decision Date: 20 February 1957
• Docket Number: No. 1891.,1891.
• Citation: 129 A.2d 533
• Parties: Giuseppe A. RESTIFO, Appellant, v. Lane PASTOR, Appellee.
• Court: D.C. Court of Appeals

Page 533

129 A.2d 533

Giuseppe A. RESTIFO, Appellant, v. Lane PASTOR, Appellee.

No. 1891.

Municipal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

Argued December 18, 1956.

Decided February 20, 1957.

Rehearing Denied March 1, 1957.

Robert Sheriffs Moss, Washington, D. C., appellant.

Ewing Laporte, Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Before ROVER, Chief Judge, and HOOD and QUINN, Associate Judges.

QUINN, Associate Judge.

Plaintiff brought as action for a real-estate broker's commission, alleging that he had procured a signed offer of a purchaser ready, willing and able to bye defendant's property on the authorized terms. From a judgment for plaintiff, defendant appeals.

In February 1955 Restifo (hereinafter called the seller) employed Pastor, a real-estate broker (hereinafter referred to as the broker), to find a purchaser for a small apartment building located in the District of Columbia. After receiving an offer, the seller furnished the following memorandum to the broker:

                      "I hereby agree to accept the following
                      Full price $39,000.00
                      1st trust $20,000.00 at $150.00 @ 5½%
                      2nd trust $11,000.00 at   90.00 @ 6%
                                               _______
                                               $240.00
                      Down payment, $8,000.00
                      Owner to receive difference from present 1st trust to the increase
                       in new trust, which will be
                      $5,000.00
                                                         /s/ Giuseppe A. Restifo
                      April 9th
                      Witness
                      /s/ Lane Pastor"
                    Shortly thereafter the broker presented to the seller a sales agreement
                    signed by a prospective purchaser, which provided in part as follows
                         "Total price of property Thirty-nine thousand -------------------
                Thirty-nine thousand -------------- Dollars ($ 39000.00)
                         The purchaser agrees to pay eight thousand ----------------------
                --------------------------------- Dollars ($ 8000.00)
                       cash at the date of conveyance, of which sum this deposit shall be a
                       part.
                         The purchaser is to secure a first deed of trust secured on the premises
                       of ---------------------------------------------- Twenty thousand
                -------------------------------------------- Dollars ($ 20,000.00) due
                       --------------------------------, 19 ---, bearing interest at the rate
                       of 5½% ------ per cent per annum, payable --------------------------
                     ________________________________________________________________________
                     ________________________________________________________________________
                     ________________________________________________________________________
                          The balance of deferred purchase money is to be secured by a
                        second deed of trust on said property, to be paid in monthly installments
                        of ninety ---------------- Dollars ($90.00) or more, including
                        interest at the rate of 6% ----- percent per annum, each installment
                        when so paid to be applied, first, to the payment of interest on the
                        amount of principal remaining unpaid and the balance thereof credited
                        to principal."
                

The seller refused to sign unless the provision "owner to receive difference from present 1st trust to the increase in new trust, which will be $5,000.00," specified in the original authorization, was placed in the proffered contract.

It is basic law in this jurisdiction that a broker is entitled to his commission if he procures a purchaser ready, willing and able to buy upon the seller's terms, but the offer to buy must clearly and unequivocally meet the authorized terms.¹ Our problem, then, is to determine whether the offer to buy, absent the provision quoted above, was still such an offer as would clearly and unequivocally give the seller the rights contemplated in the original authorization, since a deviation which is trifling or inconsequential will not defeat recovery.² We think that the deviation here was material and fatal to the broker's claim

The seller's terms were such as to insure him $13,000 cash at settlement, i. e., $8,000 from the buyer's personal funds, plus $5,000 more, to be obtained as follows: The seller was to place a new first trust on the property of $20,000, the proceeds of which were to be used to pay off an existing first trust of $15,000, and the balance paid to the seller. Thus, although the buyer would receive the $20,000 initially, the seller expected to get the money immediately at final settlement, leaving an $11,000 debit, which would then be secured by a second trust in that amount. The contract submitted, however, made no...