Diversified Human Resources Group, Inc. v. PB-KBB, Inc.

671 S.W.2d 634, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5425
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 26, 1984
Docket01-83-0583-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 671 S.W.2d 634 (Diversified Human Resources Group, Inc. v. PB-KBB, 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
Diversified Human Resources Group, Inc. v. PB-KBB, Inc., 671 S.W.2d 634, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5425 (Tex. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

JACK SMITH, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment awarding appellee $12,400, by reason of appellant’s violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (Tex.Bus. & Com.Code Sec. 17.41 et seq.).

Appellant claims that the evidence is legally and factually insufficient to support the court’s finding that it violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. By crosspoint, appellee claims that the court erred in awarding $12,400, when it should have awarded $13,400. We affirm the court’s judgment finding that appellant violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, but reform the judgment as to the amount of appellee’s damages and increase it to the sum of $13,400.

Appellant is an employment agency; ap-pellee is an engineering firm.

*636 In 1980, appellee placed an advertisement in a newspaper seeking to hire an engineer. In response to this advertisement, Mr. Johnson, an employee of appellant, called a representative of appellee and offered to furnish appellee a graduate engineer. As a result of the telephone conversation, appellant sent Bruce B. Bayoud to interview with appellee. Bayoud had furnished appellant a resume, which showed that he held a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration from S.M.U. After interviewing Bayoud, appellee hired him as a senior engineer and paid appellant $11,400 as a fee for furnishing Bayoud. Within a short time, Bayoud’s supervisors became suspicious of his qualifications because he could not do the work, and required him to sign a request for his college transcript. The transcript not only disclosed that Bayoud did not have a master’s degree, but also revealed he had not completed his required number of hours and had not obtained a degree. Shortly thereafter, Bayoud resigned.

When appellant refused to return the employment fee paid by appellee, appellee sued it, claiming violations of the D.T.P.A. in these respects:

(1) for breach of an express or implied warranty (Sec. 17.50(a)(2));
(2) for an unconscionable act or course of conduct (Sec. 17.50(a)(3));
(3) for failure to disclose information (Sec. 17.50(a)(1) and Sec. 17.46(b)(28)).

The evidence shows that appellant knew that appellee wanted a graduate engineer, but appellant insisted that the custom of employment agencies was not to verify the degrees listed on an applicant’s resume. The appellant asserted that it never told appellee that it had checked the veracity of Bayoud's resume.

Appellant further claimed that it guaranteed the suitability of the employee for only a thirty day period.

Appellee replied that appellant impliedly and expressly warranted that it was furnishing appellee a graduate engineer and that appellant’s refusal to refund the employment fee was unconscionable conduct under the D.T.P.A., because there was a gross disparity between the value appellee received and the consideration it paid.

The trial court recited in its judgment that it “found that Defendant had violated the D.T.P.A., Sec. 17.41 et seq., though it did not do so knowingly, and that such violation resulted in actual damages to the plaintiff in the amount of $11,400.” No separate findings of fact were filed. Therefore, we will review the evidence only to determine whether it is factually and legally sufficient to support the two conclusions made by the trial court in the judgment. If there is other disputed evidence necessary to support the judgment we will only consider that evidence in a light favorable to appellee. Neither party questions the court’s finding that appellant did not knowingly violate the act, so that finding is only material if the act required a finding on that element as a prerequisite to recovery.

There is no evidence showing that appellant failed to disclose information as prohibited by Sec. 17.46(b)(23) of the Act, so we consider only whether the appellant breached an implied or express warranty as prohibited by Sec. 17.50(a)(2) of the Act, or whether appellant was guilty of any unconscionable action or course of action as prohibited by Sec. 17.50(a)(3) of the Act, as pled by appellee.

We are of the opinion that the evidence supports a finding that appellant breached an implied warranty, as well as a finding that appellant was guilty of unconscionable action, as defined in the Act.

Section 17.45 of the Act defines “services” as work, labor, or services purchased or leased for use ...; and “consumer” as ... an individual, partnership, or corporation, ... who seeks or acquires by purchase or lease, any goods or services for commercial or business use.

Section 17.50 of the Act provides that:

*637 (a) a consumer may maintain an action where any of the following constitute a producing cause of actual damages;
(b) breach of an express or implied warranty;

A furnisher of services has been held to impliedly warrant that it would furnish such services as agreed under a contract. First National Bank of Mercedes v. La Sara Grain Company, 646 S.W.2d 246 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1982, writ granted).

We are of the opinion that when appellant agreed to furnish appellee an applicant for the job as a graduate engineer, it impliedly warranted that the person furnished was a graduate engineer and that such failure to furnish a graduate engineer was a breach of its implied warranty.

Appellant urges that since it made an express 30 day warranty that Bayoud would be suitable for the job, such precluded there being an implied warranty as to Bayoud’s suitability.

Appellant’s claim of an express 30 day warranty arises from its Exhibit No. 3, which is a form filled out by one of its employees when an employee has been placed in a job. The form is called a “placement notification” and contains various blanks for information to be filled in including the client’s address, phone number, salary, and the name of the company with which the client was placed. At the left corner of the form there is a typewritten notation “Guar. Per.” with a dash beside the notation, which appellant claims was filled in with the handwritten notation “30 days.” Appellant claims this means that the employee sent to a company would be guaranteed as being suitable for the job for a period of 30 days.

We reject this contention for several reasons. First, there is no evidence that a 30 day warranty was a part of the parties’ agreement. Second, it appears from the evidence that this form was made for internal office use and was not supplied to appellee as part of the contract. Third, even if it were shown to have been sent to appellee, there is no showing that appellee deciphered the code and understood that this notation constituted a warranty. In this connection, the copy of the exhibit in the record is illegible and we can only assume that it states what the appellant contends is on the form.

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Bluebook (online)
671 S.W.2d 634, 1984 Tex. App. LEXIS 5425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/diversified-human-resources-group-inc-v-pb-kbb-inc-texapp-1984.