Strebel

This case questions the proper measure of damages when a fiduciary fraudulently induces the sale of real property to a third party by failing to disclose a material fact unrelated to the value of the property. Defendants Brenlar Investments, Inc., doing business as Frank Howard Allan (Brenlar) and its agent Haya Smith appeal from a $305,000 judgment against them entered on plaintiff John P. Strebel’s complaint for real estate fraud. Defendants concede that substantial evidence supports the jury’s findings that Smith concealed information about the salability of a house in Sonoma County that Strebel had agreed to purchase, and that Strebel sold his house in the City of San Bruno believing that escrow on the Sonoma County house would soon close. Defendants challenge the court’s rulings with respect to Strebel’s damages, arguing, among other things, that the court erroneously permitted the jury to include lost appreciation in the value of the San Bruno home and lost use of the San Bruno property in the measure of recovery. While we reject these contentions in the published portion of this opinion, in the unpublished portion we conclude that there must be stricken from the…