Reid Price is having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week. On the heels of being sued by Town Residential for a second time on Wednesday, Price suffered a blow in court Thursday when his allegations against ex-business partner Wendy Maitland were dismissed.
Price, Town’s former new development chief, and Maitland, Town’s president of sales, were a top broker team at Brown Harris Stevens before they both joined Town in 2010. In his 2014 complaint, Price said he and Maitland shared commissions while at Brown Harris and had an oral agreement to do the same at Town. Price left Town in 2013 and is now an executive vice president at Douglas Elliman.
Maitland denied that she and Price agreed to continue splitting commissions, according to court documents.
On Thursday, Judge Eileen Bransten dismissed Price’s complaint on the grounds that certain agreements are required to be in writing in order to be enforced.
“There was nothing in [their respective] employment agreements about any sharing of commissions,” said Robert Kaplan, an attorney for Maitland. In fact, he added, “Under their employment agreements, there was no provision for them to be receiving commission at all.”
Price’s complaint against Maitland stems from a lawsuit that Town filed against Price in 2013, after Price decamped to Elliman. In that suit, Town alleged Price violated his noncompete agreement and owed the firm $460,000, plus interest, for loans made while he was employed by the brokerage.
Price filed a counterclaim, alleging Town owed him $490,000 in commission payments, but the counterclaim was dismissed. In August, a court ruled in Town’s favor, ordering Price to pay the firm $613,000, the amount of the original loan plus interest.
Town filed a second lawsuit against Price on Wednesday, alleging that Price emptied his personal and business bank accounts in order to avoid paying a court-ordered sum of $613,000.
An attorney for Price was not immediately available to comment.