FRANCESCA BUSCIGLIO v. GRACE DELLAFAVE et al.

 

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE

APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY

APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-0584-05T30584-05T3

FRANCESCA BUSCIGLIO,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

GRACE DELLAFAVE and

CHRISTOPHER FINN,

Defendants-Appellants

________________________________

 

Argued October 4, 2006 - Decided October 30, 2006

Before Judges Kestin and Lihotz.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Chancery Division, Bergen County, Docket No. C-57-01.

Michael A. Casale argued the cause for appellants.

Mark D. Madaio argued the cause for respondent.

PER CURIAM

This dispute regarding the specific performance of a contract for the sale of realty, has returned on defendants' appeal of the trial court's decision following a plenary trial on remand. We incorporate the factual background recited in our prior opinion, Busciglio v. DellaFave, 366 N.J. Super. 135, 137 (App. Div. 2004).

Initially, we reversed a trial court's grant of summary judgment to the plaintiff-purchaser and remanded to determine "whether the defendants had either expressly or implicitly authorized [their attorney] Lynch to bind them to the amended contract of sale."

At the conclusion of testimony, the trial judge ordered defendants to convey title to plaintiff, finding Lynch had been granted authority from defendant Grace DellaFave and from her son, defendant Christopher Finn, who had deferred to his mother to act for him, to sign the "new offer," and to sell the realty submitted by the purchaser's attorney. In reaching this conclusion, the trial judge relied on credibility findings, expressed in his written opinion and set forth on the record during defendants' new trial motion.

After reviewing the record in the light of the arguments raised, we conclude the issues presented by defendants are without sufficient merit to warrant discussion in a written opinion, R. 2:11-3(e)(1)(A), (C) and (E), and we affirm substantially for the reasons expressed by Judge Escala in his written decision dated July 8, 2005 and his oral opinion on defendants' new trial motion, delivered on August 25, 2005. The findings and conclusions of the judge are supported by adequate, substantial, and credible evidence in the record, Rova Farms Resort, Inc. v. Investors Ins. Co., 65 N.J. 474, 483-84 (1974), and will not be disturbed on appeal.

Affirmed.

 

In the caption and throughout the record, the name of this defendant is misspelled. The correct spelling, DellaFave, is used in this decision.

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(continued)

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A-0584-05T3

 

October 30, 2006