SKS Prevails with Final Summary Judgment in Real Estate Case

SKS Legal Group attorneys Jordan Kay and Robert Streit recently prevailed for a real estate client in Broward County Circuit Court with the entry of Final Summary Judgment in favor of the seller of a residential parcel of real property against the buyer of the property based upon the buyer’s breach of the purchase and sale agreement.

Judge John Bowman of the Broward County Circuit Court found that the buyer breached a material term of the contract where he failed to make a mortgage loan application for the “Financing” to obtain approval of a loan meeting the Financing terms and that such breach constituted an event of default under the contract.

Specifically, the contract expressly identified the “Loan Amount” as $200,000.00 and incorporated the Loan Amount in the Financing terms, yet the buyer ignored that term and instead applied for a loan in the amount of $453,000.00. When the buyer’s lender later denied the loan application, the seller attempted to trigger the Financing contingency to cancel the contract and avoid the closing. However, the material breach of the Financing terms of the contract prevented the buyer from later exercising the Financing contingency since the buyer had clearly failed to make any effort to comply with the Financing terms required by the contract.

The court relied primarily on two binding 4th DCA decisions in reaching its conclusion in this matter. See, Florida Investment Group 100, LLC v. LaFont, 271 So.3d 1 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019); and D’Amico v. Brightfelt, 924 So.2d 872 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006)

The buyer’s default and failure to proceed to closing entitled the seller to liquidated damages in the form of forfeiting the buyer’s deposits held in escrow. The entry of final summary judgment in favor of the seller also rendered the seller the prevailing party for purposes of an award of reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.