Expo motors v. Jacobson

This case was tried in a bench trial (neither party asked for a jury.) An appellate court reviews the court documents, transcript (written record of questions, answers and statements made during the trial) and exhibits to determine if the trial court gave both parties a fair hearing. The parties file briefs to describe the errors which a party claims were made in the trial. The opinion which is linked to this Assignment is the reasoning of the judges on the Houston Court of Appeals regarding the trial of this case. If you want to see more details the Court of Appeals web site has all documents related to the case.

To complete the assignment, answer the following questions from just the opinion.

1. Read the court's discussion of "brokerage services" and explain whether you agree with the court that what Jacobson did was provide brokerage services.

2. Assume that Jacobson was a licensed real estate broker. Do you think he would have been able to recover a fee without a written contract? Why or why not?

3. It appears that Jacobson spent time finding the property, talking to Kim and Lujan, helping make a letter offer and inspecting the property. Is it fair that he provided benefit to Kim and collected no fee? Why or why not?

4. Regardless of your answer to question 3 what is the purpose of the law prohibiting collecting fees for brokerage services except by those licensed by the State? What is the purpose of the law requiring certain contracts to be in writing?

5. Do you have any other observations about the situation described in this case?