Khai Huynh v. Christine T. Hang Nguyen

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 30, 2018
Docket01-17-00935-CV
StatusPublished

This text of Khai Huynh v. Christine T. Hang Nguyen (Khai Huynh v. Christine T. Hang Nguyen) 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
Khai Huynh v. Christine T. Hang Nguyen, (Tex. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

Opinion issued August 30, 2018

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-17-00935-CV ——————————— KHAI HUYNH, Appellant V. CHRISTINE T. HANG NGUYEN, Appellee

On Appeal from the 80th District Court Harris County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 2017-47236

MEMORANDUM OPINION

In this interlocutory appeal,1 appellant, Khai Huynh, challenges the trial

court’s order denying his special appearance in the suit of appellee, Christine T.

Hang Nguyen, against him for breach of fiduciary duty and misappropriation of

1 TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM. CODE ANN. § 51.014(a)(7) (Vernon Supp. 2017). image and likeness. In his sole issue, Huynh contends that the trial court erred in

denying his special appearance.

We affirm in part and reverse and render in part.

Background

In her amended petition,2 Nguyen alleges that although she is a United States

citizen, she and her husband reside in Vietnam, where they lead a ministry “serving

the poor of Ho Chi Minh City.” Her ministry receives support from direct gifts as

well as from the “Go.Be.Hope charity headquartered in McKinney, Texas.”

Huynh is a high-level “agent” with Seacret Direct, a company that “sells Dead Sea

Minerals and Cosmetics through its multi-level marketing . . . channels.” And he

recruited a group of “agents” of Vietnamese heritage, many of whom live and

work in Texas, to sell underneath him (or “down-line”). Huynh named the group

2 We conclude that Huynh’s argument that Nguyen’s amended petition should not be considered because it was filed untimely, without leave of court and only two days before the special appearance hearing, is without merit. See TEX. R. CIV. P. 63. Even presuming, without deciding, that rule 63 applies in this case, Huynh made no showing of surprise or prejudice in his motion to strike the amended pleading. See TEX. R. CIV. P. 63; see also Goswami v. Metro. Sav. & Loan Ass’n, 751 S.W.2d 487, 490 (Tex. 1988) (explaining Rule 63 interpreted liberally and “in the absence of a sufficient showing of surprise by the opposing party, the failure to obtain leave of court when filing a late pleading may be cured by the trial court’s action in considering the amended pleading”). The lack of surprise or prejudice is supported by the fact that the additions to Nguyen’s pleading, such as discussions of payments distributed in Texas to Texas residents, is directly addressed in her response to his special appearance. Further, it does not appear that Huynh obtained a ruling from the trial court on his objection or objected to the trial court’s failure to rule. See TEX. R. APP. P. 33.1(a). 2 “TeamSeacret,” which had its own Facebook page and held events for its

members.

Nguyen further alleges that in 2014, Huynh visited her in Ho Chi Minh City

and “assisted [her] charity in distributing meals to the poor.” In September 2014,

Huynh, unbeknownst to Nguyen, sent out an electronic invitation to TeamSeacret

for a “Talent Night,” the purpose of which was “to celebrate the success of

Vietnamese workers at SEACRET and concurrently raise funds

for [Nguyen] . . . to help fund an education and feeding charity program for

children living in slums during Christmas and New Years.”3 In a Facebook post on

the TeamSeacret page, Huynh explained that the price of admission to the event

would first cover the costs and any “extra will go to [c]harity.” He further stated

that he would “match 100%” of the amount “left[]over from the event.”

In October 2014, Huynh met with Nguyen again in Vietnam and told her

that “he intended to raise money for her charity,” asking her to send “pictures and

videos” that he could “use to promote” her charity at the TeamSeacret event.

Nguyen sent Huynh a video of some of the children her charity served in the slums

of Vietnam, and she thanked TeamSeacret “for being the beneficiary of the

[c]harity [e]vent.”

3 Nguyen also alleges that this electronic invitation was later edited to remove reference to her charity. 3 On November 9, 2014, TeamSeacret held the charity event in Arizona,

raising $24,130 “over and above expenses.” After the event, Huynh published the

results of the funds raised on his Facebook page and represented that, after

donating $400 of his own money, $24,530 would be placed in “the TeamS[eacret]

Charity.” Nguyen alleges, however, that there is no such charity and Huynh kept

the money raised either at his home in cash or in his bank account. Nguyen further

alleges that, due to Huynh’s promise to match the donations at 100%, the total

amount of funds due to her charity is $48,260.00.

In December 2014, Huynh represented to Nguyen that the total amount of

money raised at the event was only $3,000, he asked her permission to give $1,000

of the funds to another Vietnamese charity, and she agreed. And, on December 27,

2014, Huynh’s assistant delivered $2,000 to her. Nguyen then asked Huynh for

permission to thank the group for their donation in a Facebook post. In his

response, Huynh agreed, but instructed her that there was “no need to say the

amount of money that . . . had [been raised] for [her] charity in her thank you

Facebook posting.” At the time, she did not realize that the charity event had

raised more money. And she received no further payments from Huynh.

By February 2015, TeamSeacret members began inquiring about what had

happened with the remaining donations. In response, Huynh suggested additional

charities to which TeamSeacret should give the remaining funds, and he also

4 returned some of the money to donors. However, Huynh, after March 2015, did

not make any further public postings about the funds or otherwise publicly account

for his management of the donations.

In August 2015, one TeamSeacret member, Dam K. Dinh (“Quarter”), made

a public post on Facebook, accusing Huynh of stealing the donations raised at the

Arizona charity event. In response, Huynh hired the Houston-based Tammy Tran

Law Firm to represent him in a possible libel suit. Huynh also told Nguyen that he

had “returned much of [the money] to the donors and that he intended to give the

remaining money to the Joel Osteen ministry in Houston.” Several of the donors

who had their money returned reside in Texas. And instead of donating to the Joel

Osteen ministry, Huynh gave $5,630 to Sharon Gartman, who runs a charity

benefiting children, in Houston, Texas. Huynh ultimately filed a defamation

lawsuit against Quarter, a Michigan resident, and two others in Texas.

In regard to her claim for breach of fiduciary duty, Nguyen alleges that

Huynh represented to her and the attendees of the charity event that its purpose

was to raise money for Nguyen’s charity. Thus, Huynh had a fiduciary duty to

deliver the funds raised to Nguyen’s charity after the event, and he breached this

duty by returning some of the funds to donors and donating the rest to Gartman’s

charity. In regard to her claim for misappropriation of image and likeness, Nguyen

alleges that Huynh “appropriated [her] image and likeness to induce the people at

5 the [c]harity [e]vent to attend . . . and donate money.” She further alleges that

Huynh used her image and likeness to “bring honor and credit upon himself and to

raise money” that he ultimately did not provide to Nguyen after the event as

promised.

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