Lakepointe Pharmacy 2, LLC, Raymond Amaechi and Valerie Amaechi v. Forney Deerval, LLC and Forney Willetta, LLC

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided January 26, 2021·No. 05-19-01224-CV·Published

Opinion

AFFIRMED and Opinion Filed January 26, 2021

S In The

Court of Appeals

Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-19-01224-CV

LAKEPOINTE PHARMACY #2, LLC, RAYMOND AMAECHI AND VALERIE AMAECHI, Appellants V.

FORNEY DEERVAL, LLC AND FORNEY WILLETTA, LLC, Appellees

On Appeal from the 422nd Judicial District Court Kaufman County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 90632-422

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before Justices Schenck, Osborne, and Partida-Kipness Opinion by Justice Osborne In this landlord/tenant dispute, the trial court rendered judgment for

plaintiffs/landlords Forney Deerval, LLC and Forney Willetta, LLC after a bench trial. In four issues, Lakepointe Pharmacy #2, LLC, Raymond Amaechi, and Valerie Amaechi, the tenant and lease guarantors, contend the trial court erred by admitting certain evidence, rendering judgment for appellees when there was no evidence of any amounts due under the lease, awarding attorney’s fees, and failing to render judgment that appellees take nothing on their claims. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

BACKGROUND

The facts are well-known to the parties and we do not detail them here except as necessary to explain the basic reasons for our decision. TEX. R. APP. P. 47.4. Under an assignment dated July 15, 2011, appellant Lakepointe Pharmacy #2, LLC (“Tenant”) leased premises in Kaufman County to be used as a pharmacy under a 2007 Medical Office Building Lease and amendments (“Lease”). Appellants Raymond Amaechi and Valerie Amaechi were guarantors of Tenant’s obligations under the Lease (“Guarantors”). On July 25, 2011, appellees Forney Deerval, LLC and Forney Willetta, LLC (together, “Landlord”) succeeded to the prior landlord’s rights under the Lease and guaranty. The parties agree that Tenant remained in the premises until early February 2014.1 Landlord made repairs to the premises and leased them to another tenant for some of the remaining Lease term, which ended on November 30, 2018.

Under the Lease, Tenant was required to pay both “Base Rent” and “Additional Rent,” including the “Tenant’s Proportionate Share” of “Excess Operating Costs,” all defined terms. The primary dispute at trial and now on appeal

1 Although Tenant and Guarantors repeatedly state that they were “locked out” of the premises, there was evidence offered at trial to support a finding that Tenant moved out and abandoned the premises without notifying Landlord before Landlord changed the locks. We also note that under the Lease, Tenant expressly waived “all rights and benefits of tenant” under sections 93.002 and 93.012 of the Texas Property Code. See TEX. PROP. CODE ANN. § 93.002 (restrictions on interruption of utilities, removal of property, and changing of locks by landlord, including tenant remedies, but “[a] lease supersedes this section to the extent of any conflict”); Id. § 93.012 (landlord may not assess charge for rent or physical damage to premises unless amount or method of calculation is stated in the lease).

is whether Landlord offered sufficiently detailed, non-hearsay evidence of the Excess Operating Costs.

The case proceeded to trial before the court in May, 2017. On June 20, 2019, the trial court rendered judgment for the Landlord against Tenant in the following amounts:

$293,332.36 representing unpaid amounts due under the lease through the date it was terminated;

$22,750.00 representing the sum Plaintiffs [Landlord] paid for tenant improvements as part of their efforts to re-let the subject premises;

$22,440.00 representing the sum Plaintiffs paid for leasing commissions as part of their efforts to re-let the subject premises; and

$43,183.66 representing the difference between the present value of the rent Defendant Lakepointe Pharmacy #2 LLC contracted to pay Plaintiffs in the subject lease through the end of the stated lease term, and the present value of the rent Plaintiffs will receive as the result of their efforts to re-let the subject premises through the end of the stated term of subject lease.

The trial court also awarded Landlord $381,706.02 in damages from Guarantors for breach of the guaranty. The judgment includes awards of attorney’s fees for trial and appeal against all defendants.

This appeal followed.

ISSUES AND STANDARDS OF REVIEW In four issues, Tenant and Guarantors challenge the trial court’s evidentiary rulings and the sufficiency of the evidence. Specifically, they argue the trial court erred by (1) failing to exclude evidence of operating costs that lacked foundation;

(2) rendering judgment for breach of contract when there was no or insufficient evidence to support a finding that Tenant and Guarantors did not pay all money owed under the Lease; (3) failing to grant a take-nothing judgment on Landlord’s claims; and (4) awarding attorney’s fees “due to a lack of competent testimony by an expert witness.”

The trial court did not file findings of fact and conclusions of law. We therefore imply that the trial court made all the necessary findings to support its judgment, and we may uphold the judgment on any legal theory supported by the pleadings and evidence. Weisfeld v. Tex. Land Fin. Co., 162 S.W.3d 379, 381 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2005, no pet.).

When a party attacks the legal sufficiency of an adverse finding on which it did not have the burden of proof, the party must demonstrate on appeal that no evidence supports the finding. Graham Cent. Station, Inc. v. Pena, 442 S.W.3d 261, 263 (Tex. 2014) (per curiam). We review the evidence in the light most favorable to the appealed finding and indulge every reasonable inference that supports it. City of Keller v. Wilson, 168 S.W.3d 802, 821–22, 827 (Tex. 2005). If the evidence admitted at trial would enable reasonable and fair-minded people to differ in their conclusions, then the fact finder must be allowed to do so, and we may not substitute our judgment for that of the fact finder. Id. at 822.

When a party attacks the factual sufficiency of the evidence to support a finding on which it did not have the burden of proof, we consider and weigh all the

evidence both in support of and contrary to the challenged finding. Sunl Grp., Inc. v. Zhejiang Yongkang Top Imp. & Exp. Co., Ltd., 394 S.W.3d 812, 817 (Tex. App.— Dallas 2013, no pet.). We may set aside the finding only if it is so contrary to the overwhelming weight of the evidence as to be clearly wrong and unjust. Id.

In a bench trial, the trial judge, as fact finder, is the sole judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the evidence. Weisfeld, 162 S.W.3d at 380. The judge may take into consideration all the facts and surrounding circumstances in connection with the testimony of each witness and accept or reject all or any part of that testimony. Id. at 380–81.

The admission or exclusion of evidence is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. Estate of Finney, 424 S.W.3d 608, 612 (Tex. App.—Dallas 2013, no pet.). A judgment will not be reversed based on the admission or exclusion of evidence unless the appellant establishes that (1) the trial court’s ruling was in error and (2) the error was reasonably calculated to cause and probably did cause the rendition of an improper judgment. Id. When reviewing whether evidence was properly admitted or excluded, the appellate court must review the entire record. Id.

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Lakepointe Pharmacy 2, LLC, Raymond Amaechi and Valerie Amaechi v. Forney Deerval, LLC and Forney Willetta, LLC, (Tex. Ct. App. 2021).

Lakepointe Pharmacy 2, LLC, Raymond Amaechi and Valerie Amaechi v. Forney Deerval, LLC and Forney Willetta, LLC (Lakepointe Pharmacy 2, LLC, Raymond Amaechi and Valerie Amaechi v. Forney Deerval, LLC and Forney Willetta, LLC) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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