[Compliance with Laws and Regulations – Broker Conduct] A broker who solicits active clients of other brokers may be guilty of:

Tortious interference is a common law tort that occurs when a person intentionally damages someone else's contractual or business relationship with a third party, causing economic harm. In real estate, if a broker knowingly and intentionally solicits a client who has an active, exclusive agency agreement with another broker, with the intent to induce the client to break that existing contract, the soliciting broker has committed tortious interference. The key elements are the existence of a valid contract, the interfering broker's knowledge of it, and the intentional act of inducement to breach.

B. tortious obstruction. This is not a recognized legal term for the act of interfering with another's contractual relationship in this context.

C. negligent interference. This is incorrect because the act of "soliciting" implies a deliberate and intentional action, not a careless or negligent one.

D. negligent obstruction. This is not a standard legal term and incorrectly characterizes the required mental state as negligent rather than intentional.

1. North Carolina Real Estate Commission. (2023). North Carolina Real Estate Manual. Chapter 11, "Brokerage Business Practices," Section: Interference with Contractual Relations of Others, p. 11-16. The manual states, "A person who intentionally and without justification induces one party to a contract to breach that contract to the injury of the other party to the contract is liable in a civil lawsuit for 'tortious interference with a contract.'"

2. Owens, F., & Powell, D. (2011). Elements of a Cause of Action for Tortious Interference with Contract. UNC School of Government, Administration of Justice Bulletin, No. 2011/03. This bulletin outlines the five essential elements for a tortious interference claim in North Carolina: "(1) a valid contract between the plaintiff and a third person...; (2) the defendant knows of the contract; (3) the defendant intentionally induces the third person not to perform the contract; (4) the defendant acts without justification; and (5) the defendant’s act causes the plaintiff actual damages." This directly aligns with the scenario of a broker soliciting another's client.

3. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 766 (1979). This foundational legal treatise, used in university law courses, defines the tort of Intentional Interference with Performance of Contract by a Third Person. It establishes the principle that one who "intentionally and improperly interferes with the performance of a contract... between another and a third person by inducing or otherwise causing the third person not to perform the contract, is subject to liability to the other for the pecuniary loss resulting."