Choy v. GRAZIANO ROOFING OF TEXAS, INC.

322 S.W.3d 276, 2009 WL 3152109
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 9, 2009
Docket01-07-00761-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 322 S.W.3d 276 (Choy v. GRAZIANO ROOFING OF TEXAS, INC.) 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
Choy v. GRAZIANO ROOFING OF TEXAS, INC., 322 S.W.3d 276, 2009 WL 3152109 (Tex. Ct. App. 2009).

Opinion

OPINION

EVELYN V. KEYES, Justice.

In this dispute over construction trust funds, appellant, Andrew Choy, appeals the trial court’s judgment in favor of ap-pellee, Graziano Roofing, Inc. (Graziano). In three issues, Choy argues that the trial court erred in (1) rendering judgment, because Graziano failed to prove each element to establish a violation of the Texas Trust Fund Act (the Act) 1 ; (2) concluding *280 that liability exists under the Act for intra-company transfers of funds; and (3) awarding pre-judgment interest.

We affirm.

Background

In 1998, Lake Olympia Development Corporation (Lake Olympia) created Wind-water Homes, L.L.C. (Windwater), a wholly owned subsidiary, 2 to build homes in Harris and Fort Bend County. The companies were owned by Tan Yu, and Choy served as the president of the companies. Windwater hired Graziano, a roofing contractor, to install roofs on the homes it was building. Pursuant to their agreement, Graziano performed roofing work and supplied roofing materials on a total of 39 properties for Windwater and invoiced Windwater $226,336.10 for the work and roofing materials supplied. To pay for this work, Windwater obtained construction loans from Citibank of Texas (“Citibank”) and Frost National Bank (“Frost Bank”).

On December 3, 2002, Graziano sued Lake Olympia and Windwater. In its third amended petition, Graziano added claims against Choy, individually. Grazi-ano alleged that, instead of paying Grazi-ano with the construction loan proceeds, Choy had made the decision to misapply or had actually misapplied the funds received for that purpose by Windwater, which he controlled. This appeal follows from the bench trial on Graziano’s “Third Amended Petition,” filed July 23, 2004. For purposes of trial, Graziano relied on Windwa-ter records it was able to reconstruct following Windwater’s bankruptcy. It sought recovery for only 21 of the properties. The damages sought reflected the total principal amount of $134,396.09 for these 21 properties — the original total invoice amount of $226,336.10 for all 39 properties reduced to reflect a payment made by the Windwater bankruptcy trustee to Graziano and by the debt on properties not included in the suit. Graziano also sought its attorney’s fees 3 and pre-judgment 4 and post-judgment interest.

Following Windwater’s bankruptcy, the case was tried to the bench. At trial, Citibank’s loan service manager for Wind-water, Vernon Facundo, testified that the draw construction sheet included in the business records was the sheet used by the inspector for each draw request. Facundo testified that when a draw request was received by Citibank, the inspector used that sheet to go out to the particular property and document that whatever item was being billed at that time was complete. Facundo also testified that roofing work was typically completed at 35.5 percent of total completion of the house and that the draw was then funded. These procedures were followed with regard to Windwater. In addition, Citibank’s loan information sheets were used to annotate all the applicable loan information from origination through payoff, together with all advances. Citibank relied upon the construction draw requests to disburse funds to Windwater. Each referenced a percentage of completion. Citibank’s wire transfer form was then used to wire out the construction funds to Windwater’s checking account at another bank.

Choy testified that he started working for Lake Olympia in 1983 as president and *281 that his duties chiefly consisted of management for land development and sales and marketing. In 1997, the company was sold to America First Corp., Inc., owned by Tan Yu. Choy retained the title of president. In 1998, Windwater was created as a wholly-owned subsidiary for the purpose of home building. Choy was President of Windwater as well. In 1999, Choy discovered that Tan Yu had started removing money from the Windwater, amounting in the end to $4,732 million. The money was therefore not used for Lake Olympia or Windwater purposes.

Windwater paid its contractors after they submitted an invoice to Windwater’s superintendent, who initialed and approved payment. The bookkeeper then issued a check, which Choy would look at when it came to him for signing. Windwater made draw requests on banks in order to pay its contractors. Choy testified that Tan Yu “possibly” took some of the funds received from these draw requests overseas. He did not authorize the construction loan proceeds going overseas, but he knew the loan construction proceeds owed to Grazi-ano were taken overseas because “[t]his particular bank, there’s no separate account. It’s just the account for the company.”

Choy admitted that if somebody signed a draw request for completed roofing work it would be safe to say that someone at Windwater thought the roof was complete on the property. He also admitted that Windwater did not use construction loan proceeds to pay Graziano Roofing for some properties. He agreed it was “possible” that some of the construction loan home proceeds were sent to Tan Yu. Choy issued check and wire transfers from Wind-water’s operating accounts to Tan Yu when Yu directed him to do so. Choy stated that he did not have a choice as to whether to send money to Tan Yu rather than to contractors because Tan Yu was the owner of the company, and, if he had refused to comply, he would have been fired. Choy admitted he knew that Grazi-ano and other contractors did not get paid for work they had completed. Choy also admitted that bank interest and some payrolls were not paid. Tan Yu also knew the contractors were not being paid for their work. Approximately $4,723 million was wired from Windwater to Tan Yu.

Adam Stanford, Vice-President of Grazi-ano, testified that Exhibit 55 was a summary of invoices for amounts due Graziano for its work for Windwater. The checks Graziano received for payment were signed by Choy or Brigit Halloran. Stanford further testified that Graziano was seeking $134,396.90 in damages, reduced by about $2,600 due to the discovery of a mathematical error.

On June 7, 2007, the trial court entered a final judgment that Graziano recover from Choy the sum of $131,796.09 plus pre-judgment interest and attorney’s fees of $65,000, together with costs of unsuccessful appeal, costs of court, and post-judgment interest. On July 12, 2007, the trial court issued findings of facts and conclusions of law.

Standard of Review

In an appeal of a judgment rendered after a bench trial, the trial court’s findings of fact have the same weight as a jury’s verdict, and we review the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence used to support them just as we would review a jury’s findings. Catalina v. Blasdel, 881 S.W.2d 295, 297 (Tex.1994); In re K.R.P., 80 S.W.3d 669, 673 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2002, pet. denied). When challenged, a trial court’s findings of fact are not conclusive if, as in the present case, there is a complete reporter’s record.

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322 S.W.3d 276, 2009 WL 3152109, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/choy-v-graziano-roofing-of-texas-inc-texapp-2009.