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# Behind-the-scenes brokering kicked around in court
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/behind-the-scenes-brokering-kicked-around-in-court/
- Published: 2002-03-13T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:07:54.000Z
- Author: Carolyn Sackariason
- Tags: Crime, Santa Monica, #archive-import

Just because someone pays a bill doesn’t mean he can’t successfully dispute it later, a judge ruled Monday.

In a case involving real estate leasing commissions, small claims judge pro tem Caroline Welch ordered a broker to return $2,093 to a real estate company — even though the outfit originally paid the bill in full.

In legal reasoning that resembles the courthouse equivalent of “finder’s keepers,” local real broker John Alle argued that he shouldn’t have to disgorge any money because his invoice

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 13, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/031302.pdf?ref=smdp.com)