Ward v. Taggart

Taggart (defendant), falsely claiming to be the exclusive agent for seller Sunset selling property to buyer Ward (plaintiff) through broker Thomsen, misrepresented that Sunset required a higher price than it actually did, secretly bought the property himself at the lower true price, and resold it to Ward at the inflated price he had falsely attributed to Sunset; Ward sued Taggart and his associate Jordan (defendant), who never shared in Taggart's profits, and the trial court awarded compensatory damages against both and exemplary damages against Taggart alone, prompting their appeal.