Graham Mortgage Corp. v. Hall

307 S.W.3d 472, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 977, 2010 WL 457312
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 11, 2010
Docket05-08-01665-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 307 S.W.3d 472 (Graham Mortgage Corp. v. Hall) 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
Graham Mortgage Corp. v. Hall, 307 S.W.3d 472, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 977, 2010 WL 457312 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice FILLMORE.

Appellant Graham Mortgage Corporation (“Graham”) filed a motion for rehear *475 ing. We overrule the motion for rehearing. On our own motion, we withdraw our opinion issued November 30, 2009 and vacate our judgment of that date. The following is now the opinion of the Court.

The trial court granted a temporary injunction restraining Graham from foreclosing on a tract of land secured by two deeds of trust. Because we conclude the trial court did not err in granting the temporary injunction, we affirm the trial court’s order.

Background

In 2003, appellee Michael Hall entered into an agreement with Douglas Properties, Inc. and James R. Douglas, Jr. 1 to form a limited partnership known as Douglas/Hall, Ltd. (“DHL”). The parties agreed that Douglas Properties, Inc. would be the general partner, owning a one percent interest, and Hall and Douglas would be limited partners, owning 50 and 49 percent interests, respectively. The purpose of the partnership was to “acquire, own, operate, manage, and develop” a 320-acre tract of land in Collin County, Texas (the “Hall Tract”), owned by appellee Emajean Hall, Trustee (“Emajean Hall”). 2 The partnership agreement contained provisions regarding a “development loan” to be obtained by the general partner “for the purpose of funding a portion of the cost of acquisition and development” of the Hall Tract. The agreement also contained provisions regarding the general partner’s obligation to develop the Hall Tract. In connection with its purchase of the Hall Tract from Emajean Hall in June 2003, DHL signed a promissory note in the amount of $9,090,335.27 payable to Emaje-an Hall. In addition, DHL signed a promissory note in the amount of $1.5 million payable to Graham. The Hall Tract was conveyed as security for each of these notes under two deeds of trust.

In 2005, DHL borrowed $3,074,000 from Graham. Graham designated this loan as “S755.” DHL used a portion of the proceeds of this loan to pay the balance due on the $1.5 million promissory note payable to Graham. As part of this transaction, Emajean Hall signed a subordination of her lien, providing that her lien would become “second, subordinate, and inferior” to a 2005 deed of trust lien signed by DHL to secure payment of the S755 promissory note. At the same time, Douglas Properties/Development, Inc. (“DPDI”), 3 a corporation of which Douglas was President, borrowed $3.2 million from Graham (the “DPDI loan”). The S755 loan agreement between DHL and Graham referenced the DPDI loan in a paragraph entitled “Cross-Default Loan.” In this paragraph, DHL agreed that a default in the DPDI loan “shall trigger and be considered a default” of DHL’s S755 loan. The DPDI loan was secured by a deed of trust conveying approximately 116 acres of land adjacent to the Hall Tract, known as the Bolin Tract.

In November 2006, DHL borrowed another $3.5 million from Graham. Graham designated this loan as “S755A.” This loan was secured by a second deed of trust lien in favor of Graham on the Hall Tract. Emajean Hall again subordinated her lien. Michael Hall signed a “Consent of Partners” authorizing Douglas Properties, Inc. as general partner of DHL to undertake actions to complete the loan transaction.

*476 The agreements between DHL and Graham for both the S755 and S755A loans included a provision regarding advances from the loan proceeds. In a paragraph entitled “Future Advances,” both agreements provided that advancements could be made to DHL “for the sole purpose of paying the costs (including the payment of accrued interest under the Note) reasonably and necessarily incurred by Borrower in connection with the ownership, operation and development of the Property into single-family residential lots, a minimum of one acre each.” The “Property” referred to in this provision was the Hall Tract.

In 2007, Douglas on behalf of the general partner of DHL and as President of DPDI signed modifications of the deeds of trust relating to the 2005 loans by Graham to DHL and DPDI and the 2006 loan by Graham to DHL. These modifications were also signed by the President of Graham. The effect of these agreements was to remove the restriction on the use of loan proceeds and to allow DPDI to borrow additional money from Graham. Graham agreed to these modifications “on the condition that Borrower [DHL] agree to cross-collateralize the Deed of Trust [relating to the S755 loan] to the $3.2M Loan [the 2005 DPDI loan] and the $586K Loan [a new loan to DPDI] and to provide for the cross-default of the payment and performance of the $586K Note to the Note [the S755 loan].” As noted above, in 2005, the S755 loan agreement provided that a default under the deed of trust for the DPDI loan would also “trigger and be considered a default” of the S755 loan documents, but the 2005 deed of trust relating to the S755 loan did not contain a parallel provision. The 2007 modifications inserted specific provisions into the S755 deed of trust to provide that the Hall Tract was also security for the new $586K loan to DPDI and an additional advance to be made under the 2005 DPDI loan. Similar modifications were made to the deed of trust relating to the 2006 S755A loan. The record does not include a consent by the partners of DHL to these 2007 modifications.

In 2008, appellees filed this lawsuit against Douglas, Barbara Douglas, Douglas Properties, Inc., DHL, DPDI (the “Douglas defendants”), Graham, and others alleging fraud and other claims. Specifically, appellees alleged claims against Graham for statutory fraud in a real estate transaction, common law fraud, conspiracy to defraud, and for participating in a breach of fiduciary duty by the Douglas defendants. Appellees also sought judicial foreclosure of the $9 million promissory note payable by DHL to Emajean Hall and the deed of trust securing that note. Graham then initiated foreclosure proceedings under the deeds of trust securing the S755 and S755A loans, and appellees filed their application for a temporary injunction against foreclosure pending trial on the merits.

At the hearing on the application for temporary injunction, both Douglas and Michael Hall testified. Douglas admitted no development had occurred on the Hall Tract, and also admitted the Hall Tract became cross-collateralized and cross-defaulted in 2007 for third-party loans relating to the Bolin Tract. After Douglas’s testimony, the trial judge noted it was “particularly concerning” that Douglas answered all of the questions from Graham’s attorney, but did not know or did not remember the answers to questions posed by the attorney for appellees. Michael Hall testified he believed loan S755A was made to pay the balance due under loan S755, not to incur additional indebtedness. Hall also testified he had difficulty obtaining information about DHL’s indebtedness from both Douglas and Graham. He testified Douglas did not “discuss with [him] *477 that he was going to sign agreements which would ... cross-default and cross-eollateralize the Hall tract for loans owed by other parties.” Hall did admit that a portion of the proceeds of the loans had been paid to him and to Emajean Hall.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
307 S.W.3d 472, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 977, 2010 WL 457312, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/graham-mortgage-corp-v-hall-texapp-2010.