The Firm Law Group, Inc. v. Mireya Cordero

Summary

The Florida Third District Court of Appeal affirmed summary judgment requiring an escrow agent to return a $15,000 deposit to buyers after they timely terminated a residential purchase contract because they could not obtain financing. The court held that the escrow agent’s conclusory affidavit did not establish competing demands or a good-faith doubt sufficient to support payment of attorney’s fees from the deposit.

Holdings

1. The buyers were entitled to return of the $15,000 escrow deposit because they were unable to obtain financing within the contractual thirty-day period and timely provided the contractually required written notice to the seller.
2. The escrow agent was not entitled to payment of its attorney's fees from the escrow deposit because it failed to present sufficient evidence of competing demands or a good-faith doubt concerning entitlement to the deposit.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the buyers were entitled to summary judgment requiring return of the $15,000 escrow deposit after they failed to obtain financing within the contractual period and timely notified the seller of termination.
2. Whether the escrow agent presented sufficient evidence to create a genuine dispute of material fact concerning competing demands or a good-faith doubt that would permit payment of its attorney's fees from the escrow deposit.

Disposition

affirmed