previously shown the property by [Century 21] during the exclusive listing period."
The agent at Century 21 who handled the TES listing was appellant Keith Easton. In December 2003, after the listing expired but still during the extender-clause period, Easton obtained his own broker's license and left Century 21 to open Easton Business Opportunities, Inc. Easton testified he bought out his listings and expirations from Century 21 when he left. No formal written assignment was produced, but in a May 2006 affidavit, Century 21 broker Michael Brelsford, on behalf of himself and Century 21, confirmed that Easton "purchased the rights to all his listings in December 2003" and that the TES listing was "[a]mong the listings that [Century 21] transferred" to Easton. TES knew Easton had left Century 21and how to contact him: TES's principal, Vespi, leased Easton the office space he moved into when he left Century 21, and Vespi hired Easton as broker on another property of his.
Some time later, Lightman decided to resell the TES office suite business and asked Easton to act as listing agent and broker on the resale. Thus having learned about TES's business being sold to a buyer he'd developed while with Century 21, Easton asked TES for the commission Easton believed was due. TES refused. By then, TES had allegedly transferred most of its assets, including the office suite sale proceeds, to either Vespi or its affiliate, Town Consulting LLC.
*830 Appellants Keith Easton and Easton Business Opportunities, Inc. (collectively, Easton) sued for the commission, naming respondents TES, Vespi,