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105 R.I. 1

249 A.2d 56

Wright v. Smith

Supreme Court of Rhode Island

Decided January 7, 1969

Supreme Court of Rhode Island · decided 1969-01-07

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““Statute of frauds. — No action shall be brought: “Sixth. Whereby to charge any person upon any agreement or promise to pay any commission for or upon the sale of any interest in real estate. “Unless the promise or agreement upon which such action shall be brought, or some note or memorandum thereof, shall be in writing, and signed by the party to be charged therewith, or by some other person by him thereunto lawfully authorized.””

quoted by 1 later decision, including Zexter v. Cerrone

“inequities in particular cases, it is within the purview of the legislature and not this court to correct what is now wellsettled public policy.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Maynes Real Estate, Inc. v. McPherron

Relies on Heyman v. Adeack Realty Company · Dooley v. Lachut

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1969-01-07

How this case has been cited

Cited by 21 later decisions — most recently July 2012

2 district · 19 state decisions

70196919701980199020002010decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per Curiam.

¶1 This is a civil action brought to recover a real estate broker’s commission on an alleged contract which was not reduced to writing. The contract was purportedly entered into during April 1967, some five years after the *2 enactment of P. L. 1962, chap. 162, now G. L. 1956, §9-1-4, as amended. It provides in pertinent part:

“No action shall be brought:
“Sixth. Whereby to charge any person upon any agreement or promise to pay any commission for or upon the sale of any interest in real estate.
“Unless the promise or agreement upon which such action shall be brought, or some note or memorandum thereof, shall be in writing, and signed by the party to be charged therewith, or by some other person by him thereunto lawfully authorized.”

¶2 The plaintiff commenced this action on January 22, 1968, and on March 25, 1968, a superior court justice granted the defendant’s motion for summary judgment. The plaintiff has seasonably appealed.

¶3 Mindful of our holdings in Heyman v. Adeack Realty Co., 102 R. I. 105, 228 A.2d 578 and Dooley v. Lachut, 103 R. I. 21, 234 A.2d 366, plaintiff nevertheless asks us to reconsider the holdings of those cases in light of the alleged circumstances in the instant action. As we stated in Heyman, supra, the applicable statute “ must be strictly construed and strictly applied.” 228 A.2d at 581. We further held in that case that the doctrine of quantum meruit was not applicable so as to avoid the legislative intent of the statute. Moreover, in Dooley, supra, we held that the doctrine of part performance was similarly inapplicable so as to avoid the legislative intent.

¶4 We see no reason to change our holdings in Heyman and Dooley. If the statute in question works some inequities in particular cases, it is within the purview of the legislature and not this court to correct what is now well-settled public policy.

¶5 The plaintiff’s appeal is therefore denied and dismissed, and the summary judgment for the defendant is affirmed.

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