OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®

Saturday

May 25, 2013

Law & Ethics: In Court Articles

Buyer Must Take Responsibility

Publish Date: Sun, 03/01/2009

A South Carolina court ruled that a buyer who learned from an inspection report that there were signs of water damage on the property can't later hold a broker or seller liable for failing to disclose those problems .

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No Commission from a Stone

Publish Date: Sun, 02/01/2009

A Utah court has determined that a real estate salesperson could not claim a portion of a commission that her former brokerage had been unable to collect from a seller.

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No Pay for Cancelled Sale

Publish Date: Thu, 01/01/2009

In a case where a buyer made an offer and signed a purchase agreement, but sellers decided that they no longer wanted to sell and cancelled the transaction, a New York appellate court ruled the buyers' representative was not entitled to a commission.

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Final Approval Granted to DOJ-NAR Settlement

Publish Date: Thu, 01/01/2009

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® and the U.S. Department of Justice have settled their differences over policies governing the display of MLS listings on virtual office Web sites.

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No License for FSBO Ads

Publish Date: Mon, 12/01/2008

A New Hampshire federal court has decided that a Web site that advertises for-sale-by-owner homes, ZeroBrokerFees.com, does not have to hold a real estate license.

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Brokerage Can Represent Competing Buyers

Publish Date: Sat, 11/01/2008

The Court of Appeals of New York has ruled that only the individual buyer's representative was bound to act solely on behalf of the client. The disclosure rule did not apply to the entire brokerage.

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Transaction Fees Challenged

Publish Date: Mon, 09/01/2008

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has decided that a suit against a brokerage for allegedly charging a buyer a transaction fee when no service was performed could be certified as a class action suit.

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Profile Info May Violate Fair Housing

Publish Date: Fri, 08/01/2008

A federal appeals court has ruled that Roommates.com is not entitled to immunity under the Communications Decency Act because their profile form requires users to provide personal information that might be used to discriminate.

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Complaint Against MLS Dismissed

Publish Date: Tue, 07/01/2008

An administrative law judge has ruled that a Detroit area MLS policy eliminating exclusive agency listings from its property feed to public Web sites was not a violation of federal antitrust laws.

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Dash It Off; Repent Later

Publish Date: Sun, 06/01/2008

Its quick and informal nature is often the appeal of e-mail communications for busy professionals. But quick and fast doesn’t negate legally binding, as online bookseller Amazon learned the hard way.

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