Santaniello v. Bennett

A jury question remained as to whether a listing agent of the brokerage company handling the sale of the defendant's recycling business to the plaintiff, acting as defendant's agent, waived the requirement that the plaintiff purchase the business by the closing date.

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After Richard Santaniello’s purchase of a business owned by Lester Lamar Bennett, IV failed to close, Santaniello sued Bennett, Georgia Investment Properties Enterprises, Inc., the “Brokerage Company” and Robert Johnson, who owned the Brokerage Company, seeking to recover the $200,000 he paid as earnest money for the purchase of the business. Bennett filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted by the trial court. Because a jury question remains as to whether an employee of the Brokerage Company, as Bennett’s agent, waived the requirement that Santaniello purchase the business by the closing date, we reverse. Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.1 “On appeal from the grant or denial of summary judgment, we conduct a de novo review, construing the evidence and all reasonable inferences most favorably to the nonmoving party.”2

So viewed, the record shows that Bennett told his friend Jeffery Singletary, who was an employee of the Brokerage Company, that he was interested in selling his recycling business in Waycross. On November 4, 2004, Bennett and the Brokerage Company entered into an exclusive brokerage agreement, pursuant to which Bennett agreed to pay the Brokerage Company a commission of ten percent of the sales price if the Brokerage Company procured a purchaser who entered into an enforceable contract for the sale of the business. Singletary was named in the agreement as the “listing agent” for the sale.

Santaniello v. Bennett

A jury question remained as to whether a listing agent of the brokerage company handling the sale of the defendant's recycling business to the plaintiff, acting as defendant's agent, waived the requirement that the plaintiff purchase the business by the closing date.

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