Civil Conspiracy Claims in Boca Raton
Protection from a Palm Beach County Commercial Attorney
According to Florida case law, the elements of a civil conspiracy are:
"(a) a conspiracy between two or more parties, (b) to do an unlawful act or to do a lawful act by unlawful means, (c) the doing of some overt act in pursuance of the conspiracy, and (d) damage to plaintiff as a result of the acts performed pursuant to the conspiracy."
Civil Conspiracy in Real Estate Transactions
A conspiracy may occur in a real estate transaction involving a real estate broker where the conspirators are the seller and buyer of real estate or possibly another real estate broker. The objective of the conspiracy and the damage that is causes is the deprivation of a real estate brokerage commission from the broker entitled to the compensation.
The property owner will engage the services of a real estate broker to procure a buyer or tenant, and then the broker will obtain prospects and endeavor to bring the buyer and seller together through continuous negotiations initiated by the broker. Perhaps the deal will fall through and the broker's listing eventually expires without the consummation of the desired transaction. The broker may later discover that the prospective buyer and the owner have excluded the broker from their own secret negotiations and negotiated a deal without including the broker and without compensating the broker for the broker's substantial efforts to bring the parties together.
The broker must have brought the purchaser and seller together and affected a sale through continuous negotiations inaugurated by him To be considered the "procuring cause" of a sale, unless the seller and buyer intentionally exclude the broker and thereby vitiate the need for continuous negotiations. "[W]hen the broker has brought the prospective parties together, they cannot complain that the broker did not participate in negotiations when they have purposely excluded the broker from these negotiations by dealing with one another directly and in secret. Such conduct may support several causes of action against the offending participants to the secret transaction, including a claim against both parties for civil conspiracy."
Contact Gregg H. Glickstein, P.A. in Boca Raton & Palm Beach County
To receive seasoned representation for a civil conspiracy case, contact my firm, Gregg H. Glickstein, P.A. As a Boca Raton commercial litigator, I can provide knowledgeable counsel and tough advocacy. In my thirty years of experience, I have obtained successful resolutions for many real estate brokers who have been defrauded in this manner.
Contact my office for more information about my litigation services.