Throckmartin v. Century 21 Top Realty

The Throckmartins (plaintiffs) hired broker Hove of Century 21 Top Realty (defendants) as their intermediary to buy a home, but decided on a Re/Max-listed property shown to them by a different Re/Max agent; their purchase contract placed responsibility for evaluating the property's condition on them and barred reliance on any seller or seller's-agent representations about its condition, and though the seller's disclosure statement noted basement wall defects the sellers had discussed directly with the Throckmartins, Hove never saw the house until the scheduled inspection and the inspectors never received the seller's disclosure statement. After discovering the basement walls had crumbled the following year, the Throckmartins sued Hove, Top Realty, Re/Max, and listing agent Nelson (defendants) for negligence, breach of contract, and fraudulent concealment; the trial court found the intermediaries only owed a duty to disclose actually-known adverse facts and granted summary judgment for lack of evidence of actual knowledge, and the Throckmartins appealed.