Marc Salinas won summary judgment in Superior Court on behalf of an estate, securing the estate's right - as the seller of residential real estate - to retain a buyer's deposit as liquidated damages.
The estate had entered into a standard purchase and sale agreement to sell a home on the North Shore of Massachusetts. The agreement contained a mortgage contingency clause that allowed the buyer to withdraw, and to recover the deposit, only if she was unable to obtain a financing commitment and notified the seller by a set deadline. The buyer never obtained a financing commitment, and neither she nor her mortgage broker secured an extension of the deadline before it passed. The closing never took place, and the estate ultimately sold the property to another party. The buyer then sued Marc’s client seeking the return of her deposit.
Representing the estate, Marc moved for summary judgment - a ruling that allows a court to decide a case without a full trial where the material facts are not genuinely in dispute. He argued that the purchase and sale agreement was a valid and enforceable contract, and that under its terms the buyer's failure to perform entitled the seller to retain the deposit as liquidated damages. The court agreed. It rejected the buyer's arguments that her obligations should be excused and entered judgment declaring the estate entitled to keep the large deposit.