Brokers Leasing Corp. v. Standard Pipeline Coating Co.

602 S.W.2d 278, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3279
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 14, 1980
Docket20150
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 602 S.W.2d 278 (Brokers Leasing Corp. v. Standard Pipeline Coating Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brokers Leasing Corp. v. Standard Pipeline Coating Co., 602 S.W.2d 278, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3279 (Tex. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinions

HUMPHREYS, Justice.

Brokers Leasing Corporation appeals from a judgment awarding Standard Pipeline Coating Company, appellee, $5,000 attorney’s fees and $19,059.04 as a penalty for charging usurious interest. Brokers argues that the court erred in finding that $9,529.52 was charged as interest and that there was an intent to charge interest. The primary issue is whether the contract between the parties was a conditional sales contract or a lease. We hold that the agreement was a lease and therefore the contract cannot be usurious. Accordingly, we reverse and render.

Brokers entered into an agreement with Standard in 1975 for the lease of two air compressors. The contract charges monthly rental payments of $567.87, an initial payment of $1,135.74, (the first and last month rental payments) and a $27.04 tax. This $567.87 monthly payment is broken down in the Lease Order, which was admitted into evidence. These figures are:

Price of Vehicle $23,000.

Leasing Charge $ 1,000.

Total $24,000.

Termination

Value $ 2,234.94

Monthly Depreciation Reserve $371.08

Monthly Interest Charge $128.92

Monthly Leasing Charge $ 40.83

Sales Tax $ 27.04

Total Monthly Payment $567.87

After Standard defaulted in its payments, Brokers sued for the unpaid balance due of $23,850.54, plus attorney’s fees. Standard counterclaimed for twice the amount of interest contracted for and reasonable attorney’s fees under Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art 5069-1.06 (Vernon 1971),1 alleging that the lease is really a conditional sales contract. Judgment was for Standard against Brokers for the penalty and that Brokers take nothing with respect to its suit against Standard on the lease.

The first question presented is whether the purported lease is actually a sales agreement which is subject to the usury law. Standard contends that several provisions of the contract reveal the true nature [280]*280of the transaction to be a sale. In support of this contention, it argues that the lessee bears the risk of loss for destruction of the equipment, pays all the taxes on the equipment, is to indemnify the lessor for any injury to person or property caused by the equipment, and is to keep insurance to fulfill its obligations. The lessor makes no warranties, and the lease is irrevocable for its full term. Moreover, the contract gives the lessee the option to purchase the equipment at any time for a fair and equitable purchase price, or at the end of the term for $2,234.94, which the parties agree to be “the fair market value of the equipment at the end of contract.”

Standard relies on several cases which address the question of whether a contract is in reality a lease. Two Texas cases are Tom Benson Chevway Rental & Leasing Inc. v. Allen, 571 S.W.2d 346 (Tex.Civ.App. —El Paso 1978, writ ref’d n. r. e.), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 930, 99 S.Ct. 2861, 61 L.Ed.2d 298 (1979); Davis Brothers v. Misco Leasing, Inc., 508 S.W.2d 908 (Tex.Civ.App. —Amarillo 1974, no writ). Although neither case concerned usury, one addressed the contention that an agreement designated as a lease was really a credit sale under the Truth-in-Lending Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1601 — 1681t (1970) and the other addressed the question of whether a security interest was created under the Uniform Commercial Code. The court in Allen was concerned with the definition of a credit sale in the Truth in Lending Regulations, 12 C.F.R. § 226.2 (1978). It found the agreement to be a credit sale because the “lessee” had the option of becoming the owner of a car at the end of the term of the agreement for only $1.00 and the contract provided for payments for use of the car in a sum equal to or greater than the value of the car. In Davis Brothers the court was concerned with the definition of “security interest” in Tex.Bus. & Com.Code § 1.201(37) (Tex.UCC) (Vernon 1968). The court considered the amount of the rentals and the amount of the option price to determine whether a lease was actually a secured transaction in which a party may have a security interest in the leased property. These two cases are not controlling here because they do not concern the question of whether a contract which purports to be a lease is actually a conditional sale subject to the usury laws. They do reveal, however, the importance of a lessee’s option to purchase the leased property at the end of the term in determining whether a contract is a lease.

Two other Texas cases have passed upon the usury question and are authority to hold that the contract here is a lease. In Southwest Park Outpatient Surgery Ltd. v. Chandler Leasing Division, 572 S.W.2d 53, 55 (Tex.Civ.App. — Houston [1st Dist.] 1978, no writ) the court answered in the negative that lessee’s claim that a contract to lease equipment was actually a conditional sale and therefore usurious. The court determined that although the contract did contain an option to purchase the equipment at the end of the lease term, the lessee was not obligated to purchase the equipment and the monthly installments were not applied against the sale price. The court also relied on the fact that the option to purchase was for the fair market value of the property.

The Houston court cites Security Life Insurance Co. v. Executive Car Leasing Co., 433 S.W.2d 915, 917-918 (Tex.Civ.App.— Texarkana 1968, writ ref’d n. r. e.), which also concerned a claim that a lease was actually a conditional sale. The contract in Security Life Insurance Co. did not contain an option to purchase. The court stated, however, that an option to purchase is indicative of an intent to make the transaction a conditional sale, especially where the installments are to be applied to the purchase price. 433 S.W.2d at 916. The court held that the contract was a lease primarily because there was no obligation to purchase in the contract. The lessee in that case argued that the contract was a sale because the terms of the contract assured that the capitalized cost of the automobile would be recovered by the lessor over the term of the lease. The court held that this did not render the contract a conditional sale because the lessee was never obligated to buy the vehicle. The court stated that the ab[281]*281sence of an obligation to purchase “regardless of the period of time the lease was permitted to run or the amount of rentals paid, is very persuasive that the parties did not intend the agreement to be a sale or a conditional sale of the Buick automobile by one to the other.” 433 S.W.2d at 917.

In this case appellee had the option to purchase at the price of $2,234.94, which by the terms of the contract was considered the fair market value of the property. There was no obligation to purchase and the rental payments were not to be applied to the purchase price.

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Brokers Leasing Corp. v. Standard Pipeline Coating Co.
602 S.W.2d 278 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1980)

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Bluebook (online)
602 S.W.2d 278, 1980 Tex. App. LEXIS 3279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brokers-leasing-corp-v-standard-pipeline-coating-co-texapp-1980.