CONSTRUCTIVE TRUSTS - LAND PURCHASED BY AGENT IN VIOLATION OF FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION TO PRINCIPAL - STATUTE OF FRAUDS

Plaintiffs employed defendant to negotiate for the purchase of a certain tract of land, defendant to receive a 5% commission if the purchase was made. Defendant contracted with the owner for the purchase of the land in his own name and made the down payment with his own funds. Plaintiffs demanded an assignment of the contract and on defendant\u27s refusal brought suit to compel a conveyance of the property by defendant as trustee. Held, that a constructive trust may be created where an agent purchases with his own money property which he is employed to purchase for his principal, and that the agency might be established by parol evidence despite the provision in the Wisconsin statute of frauds that a contract to pay a commission for selling or buying real estate is void unless in writing. The court said that the effect of the statute was simply to invalidate the agreement for a commission and not to prevent the creation of an agency relationship. Krzysko v. Gaudynski, (Wis. 1932) 242 N. W. 186