Marian H. Webb and Jill W. Brown v‪.‬

Plaintiffs Marian H. Webb and Jill W. Brown filed suit against defendants Vantage Income Properties ("VIP") and Steve Holcomb
and Bruce Honey as agents and partners of VIP. In their first cause of action, plaintiffs alleged civil violations of Utah's
former Utah Racketeering Influences and Criminal Enterprise Act ("RICE"). 1981 Utah Laws ch. 94, § 1 (codified at
Utah Code Ann. §§ 76-10-1601 to -1608). 1 The district court entered a default judgment for plaintiffs
on this claim without ruling on the other four causes of action. Defendants appeal. Following our recent decisions in Town
of Manila v. Broadbent Land Co., No. 900007, 169 Utah Adv. Rep. 5, 818 P.2d 2, also issued today, and A.J. Mackay Co. v. Okland
Construction Co., 167 Utah Adv. Rep. 3 (1991), we dismiss this appeal without reaching the merits. This action arose in 1985, when VIP was acting as the real estate agent for the owners of apartment complexes located in
Murray, Utah. 2 Plaintiffs allege that defendants fraudulently made misrepresentations and omissions concerning the property
to induce plaintiffs to buy the property. Relying on defendants' representations, plaintiffs purchased the property for $780,000.
Six percent of this amount, $46,800, went directly to defendants as a sales commission. In urging plaintiffs to execute notes,
defendants knew that plaintiffs could not repay the notes unless plaintiffs sold the property. When defendants could not find
a purchaser for the property for a sum exceeding the purchase price, defendants told plaintiffs that they must sell the property
a loss because it was only worth approximately $550,000. Defendants also stated that they would help plaintiffs sell the property
for a lesser amount if plaintiffs would pay defendants another real estate commission.