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I am a commercial real estate agent for a Broker at Keller William, Central Coast. I recently listed two properties of an attorney in our town. These properties were “for Lease”. The listing was for 6% of the total base lease and agreement was for a tenant for 3 to 5 years. I put together a 3 year lease for a winery to open a tasting room.The winery wanted a shorter lease, but they agreed to 3 years. The tenant signed, the owners signed, deposits and rent exchanged hands. We put in 3 contingencies for the tenant:1. To get city planning approval.2. To get alcohol services approval.3. To get approved for a loan to do their Tenant Improvements.I waited until all 3 contingencies were met, then sent a statement to the attorney for payment. He says he will not pay Keller Williams. He says if I want to get paid, they will have to sue him in small claims court and if I sue him, he will counter sue me for slander because I told the tenants that the owner is an attorney.The Client (attorney) wrote me a letter and said if I sue him for the money, it would be very dangerous. He said “very dangerous” 3 times in this letter.When I asked Keller Williams to have the company attorney write a stern letter to the client for payment, the Broker, Alan Williams said that our attorney is very good friends with the client and doesn’t want to write a letter or sue him.I asked the Broker to assign the lease listing over to me so I can sue the client. He says they cannot do that. So I have a listing to the Broker, Keller Williams signed by me, a lease agreement with me as the agent who put it together, but I can’t sue the client and Keller Williams won’t act on my behalf, what do I do?
State/Country relating to Question: California Already Tried: I wrote a letter to client, got back threatening letter. I asked the Broker to write a letter, they don't want to, I asked the Broker to assign the lease listing to me so I can take client to small claims court, they say that they cannot do that.
why can't you sue the client?
The listing agreements are in the name of Keller Williams with me as the agent
I see, you could a) file suit against Keller for the money owed you under the agreement as the agent; or b) file suit againt the attorney as a beneficiary of the agreement the attorney entered into with Keller.
If I decide to sue Keller Williams, can this be done in Small Claims court or because it is between 2 realtors, do I have to arbitrate or mediate first?
the forum would depend on the agreement, in the absence of a stipulation in the agreement it could be handled in small claims court.
Attorney
Negotiate, Draft, and Review many complex commercial agreements each year.