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In a recent case for commercial real estate in a Pennsylvania court dismissed a lawsuit against a commercial real estate broker due to the parol evidence rule barring the Buyers lawsuit.
The Broker was accused of failing to properly represent their client when the sellers countered the buyers offer for commercial property. The Buyers original offer was $5.5m and the seller countered at $6m. The Buyers accepted the counter and the deal went to closing.
The Buyers were angry and accused the broker of misrepresentation. They refused to pay full commission. The Broker verbally agreed, but at closing the reduction was not included in the final contract.
The court determined that since this reduction wasn’t included in the final contract & the buyers did not insist that it was, the parol evidence rule barred the buyers from raising the argument. Thus.. case dismissed.
It’s an old rule.. get EVERYTHING in writing and also read your contracts thoroughly without assuming your terms are there. People make mistakes, things get forgotten.