A Kentucky man who hired an estate agent to sell his first house later bought a property owned by that same agent for $300,000. He now says he was pressured to pay an extra $85,000. That fight has led to a partial win at the Kentucky Court of Appeals. In a decision released on November 13, the appeals court brought back most of Jason Wagner’s legal claims against estate agent Rick Walters and Lenihan Real Estate. This allows the case to go back to a lower court. The case focuses on three key issues: whether Walters properly shared that he owned the second house, how the extra payment was set up, and whether his real estate company can be held responsible.
How the two property deals began
According to the Kentucky Court of Appeals’ ruling, Wagner met Walters in January 2024 after a shared friend suggested the agent. Wagner wanted to sell his house on Stable Springs Drive in Louisville. He had never sold a home before. Walters worked for Lenihan Real Estate and also offered to help Wagner find a new place to live. On January 24, 2024, Wagner hired Walters to sell his current home. That very same day, Wagner signed a contract to buy a house on Whipps Mill Road that Walters personally owned. Wagner later said he thought the house belonged to Walters’ aunt, who had moved into an assisted living facility. He also stated that Walters told him fixing up the house could greatly raise its value. Wagner’s first home was put on the market in February 2024 and sold just five days after being listed. The sale wrapped up in March.
The disputed $85,000 payment
According to court documents, the written contract for the Whipps Mill house listed the sale price as $300,000. Wagner paid that full amount by personal cheque at the closing. He later claimed Walters asked for another $85,000, saying his wife was not happy with the first price. Wagner said he was new to buying and selling houses and felt pushed into paying the extra money. He thought it was just a normal part of buying a home. Walters told a different story during his sworn testimony. He claimed Wagner had agreed to pay $385,000, but only had $300,000 ready at the start. According to Walters, the extra $85,000 was covered by a written payment promise for his aunt’s furniture and tools left inside the house. He said Wagner paid off that balance after his first home sold. The appeals court pointed out that the written house contract still listed the price as $300,000. The contract also stated that any changes to the deal had to be put in writing. The court found no written update showing the house price rose to $385,000, or explaining how the extra payment was split up. Public property records also showed the sale price as $300,000. Walters personally took the extra $85,000 in March 2024, while Lenihan Real Estate got none of that cash.
Wagner says he suffered a financial loss
Wagner later claimed he found out Walters personally owned the Whipps Mill house, not his aunt. He also said Walters suggested the house could be worth $485,000 after repairs. Wagner stated he finished the updates, but ended up selling the home at a $35,000 loss instead of making the expected $100,000 profit. In January 2025, Wagner filed a lawsuit against Walters and Lenihan Real Estate. His claims included breaking a duty of trust, wrongfully taking money, working together to commit a wrong, and careless false statements. He also asked the court to cancel the disputed sale. Walters denied acting as Wagner’s estate agent during the second house sale. He claimed he sold his own home privately. Lenihan Real Estate also denied any blame. The company said it took no part in the deal, earned no sales fee, and made no promises about the house. The agency added that it did not collect its normal office fee or keep papers for the sale.
Lower court dismissed most claims
In April 2025, the Jefferson Circuit Court threw out Wagner’s claims against Walters. The court found his first filing did not clearly show that Walters acted as his agent in the second sale. Wagner’s lawyer later filed a sworn statement explaining that Walters was already representing him in the sale of his first home. Wagner believed that working relationship continued when he bought the Whipps Mill house. The sworn statement also claimed Walters pushed him to finish the purchase quickly without getting a professional home inspection. Wagner said nobody told him he could hire his own separate agent. The lower court refused to look at this sworn statement when reviewing the case. Lenihan Real Estate later asked the judge to rule in its favour without a trial, arguing it had no blame for Walters’ private sale. In October 2025, Walters admitted during sworn testimony that he was still representing Wagner in the sale of his first home when the second deal happened. Even so, the circuit court ruled in favour of the agency. Wagner appealed both decisions.
Why the appeals court revived the claims
In its November 13 ruling, the Kentucky Court of Appeals found that the lower court made mistakes when it threw out most of Wagner’s claims. The three-judge panel, made up of Judges Acree, Caldwell, and Easton, said Wagner shared enough facts to back up his claims that Walters owed him professional duties and may have broken them. The judges pointed to Kentucky law, which requires licensed estate agents to act honestly and fairly. They also noted that real estate workers must state in writing when they own a share of a property they are selling. The court highlighted specific details in the Whipps Mill contract. Even though it called the sale “FSBO”, which means for sale by owner, it also listed Walters’ estate agent licence number and named him as a licensed agent. The judges said these details raised clear questions about Walters’ exact role in the deal. They also decided that Wagner’s claims about the extra $85,000, and what the agency might have known about the deal, needed a closer look.
One claim remains dismissed
The appeals court did not bring back every single part of Wagner’s lawsuit. It agreed that his claim for careless false statements could not move forward. The court said the alleged guess that the house would be worth $485,000 after repairs was not enough to support that specific claim. However, the court reversed the dismissal of most of Wagner’s other claims against Walters. It also overturned the early win for Lenihan Real Estate regarding the duty of trust, cancelling the sale, and wrongfully taking money. This ruling does not prove that either Walters or the agency did anything wrong. It simply means Wagner can keep fighting most of his claims in court. The case, Jason Wagner v. Lenihan Real Estate d/b/a Lenihan Sotheby’s International Realty, et al., was sent back to the Jefferson Circuit Court for next steps under case number 2026-CA-0161-MR.