Capezzuto v. John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance

The defendant (John Hancock) was granted summary judgment based on a ruling by the judge that the plaintiff, a real estate broker, could not have become legally entitled to a commission because, as was agreed, John Hancock, the owner, had never signed a purchase and sale agreement with, or otherwise accepted, the buyer produced by the plaintiff. The decision was predicated on Tristram’s Landing, Inc. v. Wait, 367 Mass. 622 (1975), which adopted a rule that a broker engaged by the owner to find a purchaser “earns his commission when (a) he produces a purchaser ready, willing and able to buy on…