WARREN v. MERRILL Part I
Where defendant real estate agent promised plaintiff buyer his name would be placed on the title once the loan in the agent's daughter's name--who provided no funds but was placed on title because, according to agent, plaintiff needed co-borrower--was funded and escrow closed. Defendant then reneged due to a previously undisclosed intent to keep the condominium as an investment. Substantial evidence supported trial court's findings that defendant acquired the condominium through fraud, made material misrepresentations, and breached her fiduciary duties to plaintiff. Judgment quieting title in plaintiff and imposing a constructive trust were proper remedies in light of defendant's fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. Doctrine of unclean hands does not preclude plaintiff, who may have joined with defendant in an illegal scheme to conspire to defraud lender by having defendant's daughter secure loan in her name and then fraudulently conceal from the lender plaintiff's ownership interest in the property, from obtaining equitable relief from defendant's fraud. Trial court properly weighed equities and determined that defendant was more culpable than plaintiff. Evidence that defendant misappropriated plaintiff's down payment and caused him noneconomic damages through fraud was sufficient to support award of punitive damages.
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