Brasier v. Sparks
Held: The statutory transfer disclosure statement (TDS) cannot be relied upon by a buyer to be part of the purchase contract or to be a separate contract containing conditions of the purchase agreement.
Brown v. FSR Brokerage, Inc.
Held: Dual Agency Must Be Disclosed As Soon As Practicable Prior to Presenting the Buyer’s offer
A Court of Appeal held a real estate agent liable for failing to disclose dual agency. The case arose after the seller’s listing agent verbally informed the seller that he was his exclusive agent when, in fact, he was also representing a prospective buyer. In addition, during the negotiating process the agent told the seller how much money the buyer was willing to offer and told the buyer how little the seller was prepared to accept. When the contract was finally written up it did properly disclose, in the agency confirmation clause, that the agent was representing both the buyer and the seller.
FSR Brokerage v. Superior Court (Blanca)
Held: Brokers have no disclosure duty to nonparties.
The real estate brokers involved in the sale of a beachfront property were sued after the balcony of the property collapsed during a part and many guests were injured or killed. The appellate court found that the summary judgment motion should be granted in favor of the real estate brokers because the real estate brokers involved in the transaction owed no duty to the partygoers with whom no broker-customer relationship existed, regardless of whether there was a triable issue as to brokers’ knowledge of the defective balcony.