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Restitution - Fraud - Prospective Vendee's Rights Against Broker, Stephen C. Bransdorfer S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant was retained as a real estate agent by the vendor. He listed the vendor's eighty acres and buildings for sale. Plaintiff, a prospective purchaser, offered $7,000 for the property. Defendant failed to transmit this offer to the vendor and, instead, fraudulently caused the vendor to convey to two strawmen, as purported purchasers, for $6,500. After the defendant had falsely told the plaintiff that the latter's offer for the whole tract had been rejected, plaintiff purchased seventeen acres, including the buildings, for $6,000, an admittedly fair price. The strawmen conveyed the remaining sixty-three acres to the defendant's son, defendant giving …