Roberts

Plaintiff Jerry L. Roberts owned Cable Park Shopping Center (the shopping center) in his capacity as trustee of the Vernon A. Cable Trust. He retained defendant Patricia Lomanto as his agent to sell the shopping center. Lomanto eventually offered to buy the property in her capacity as trustee of her family trust. The parties executed a purchase agreement which stated the price as $11 million.

While still acting as Roberts’s agent, Lomanto assigned the contract to a third party buyer, with Roberts’s consent. Although Lomanto disclosed to Roberts that the third party was paying her an assignment fee, she refused to disclose the amount of the fee or the price the buyer had agreed to pay. After the deal had gone through, Roberts learned that Lomanto’s assignment fee was $1.2 million and the buyer had paid $12.2 million for the property (including the assignment fee).

Roberts filed suit against Lomanto, seeking damages and equitable relief on multiple theories. On cross-motions for summary judgment, the trial court granted Lomanto’s motion and denied Roberts’s motion, finding Lomanto had not breached any duty to Roberts.

We disagree with the trial court’s conclusion that…