Matheus v. Sasser

164 S.W.3d 453, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3063, 2005 WL 914473
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 21, 2005
Docket2-03-222-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 164 S.W.3d 453 (Matheus v. Sasser) 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
Matheus v. Sasser, 164 S.W.3d 453, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3063, 2005 WL 914473 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

ANNE GARDNER, Justice.

This is a deceptive trade practices case in which we must determine the proper measure of damages for a realtor’s misrepresentation concerning the square footage of a house. The suit arose from a residential real estate purchase by Appellant Julio C. Matheus. Because the only complaints on appeal by Matheus relate to his claims against the two real estate agents who represented the seller, Nancy L. Sands and Sandra K. Sasser, and the agents’ employer, Auckland L.P. d/b/a Keller Williams Realty, we will discuss only the facts and issues relevant to his complaints against those Appellees. 1 Because we hold that Matheus proffered no evidence of an appropriate measure of damages, we affirm the take-nothing judgment of the trial court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Matheus was looking for a home for his family to live in while he built a house on a lot he had previously purchased. He testified that he only intended to live in the house for about a year and a half. He located a house for sale near his lot, engaged an agent, and made an initial offer of about $78 per square foot, based upon a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) listing sheet stating the house was offered at $359,000 with 4,218 “sq. ft. per tax”. Sands and Sasser, agents for the seller, *457 admitted at trial that they had miscalculated the square footage of the house.

Sands and Sasser had obtained the number of square feet from the tax records, which showed square footage of the total living area and second floor space separately, and they had mistakenly added the two together. Both in the MLS sheet printed on Keller Williams letterhead and in a counteroffer letter to Matheus’s agent, Sasser and Sands stated that the house had 4,218 square feet. In the letter, Sands stated that the price being asked by the seller of $82.13 per square foot was “very competitive and definitely a great purchase price.”

Matheus testified that he relied on the representations of square footage in finally agreeing upon a price for the house of $343,225, which he calculated at $81.37 per square foot for 4,218 square feet. An appraisal performed at the request of his mortgage company to assure that the fair market value of the house met or exceeded the price revealed that the house had only 3,593 square feet. According to Matheus, he did not receive a copy of the appraisal until after he and his wife had signed the papers at closing. Upon learning that the house had less square footage than represented, Matheus offered to revoke the sale or to be credited a portion of the sales price for the difference in square footage, but the offer was refused.

Matheus sued Appellees and others under the DTPA for damages resulting from the misrepresentation concerning the house’s square footage. 2 In a bench trial, Matheus asserted, and Appellees did not dispute, that the house actually contained only 3,593 square feet. Matheus testified the house he received was not the 4,218 square foot house he bargained for. Ma-theus testified that he prepared his offers and counteroffers “per square foot,” that he bargained for a house that contained 4,218 square feet at a price of $81.37 per square foot, and that he received only 3,593 square feet. Matheus sought damages of $50,856.25 for the shortage of 625 square feet, calculated at $81.37 per square foot.

At the conclusion of Matheus’s case, Ap-pellees moved for judgment on the DTPA claim on the basis that Matheus had presented no evidence of the fair market value of the property, which they claimed was a necessary element for recovery under either the benefit-of-the-bargain or out-of-pocket measures of damages. After hearing arguments from both sides, the trial court granted the motion. Matheus contends that the trial court erred by granting the motion for judgment because the measure of damages he proposed was a proper measure of damages in a case of this nature, and that his testimony established his damages under that measure.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Appellees initially referred to their motion as a motion for judgment. Thereafter, and in their briefs to this court, the trial court and the parties sometimes characterize it as a motion for directed verdict. Because the case was tried to the trial court, the proper term is “motion for judgment.” Qantel Bus. Sys., Inc. v. Custom Controls Co., 761 S.W.2d 302, 303 (Tex.1988); Schwartz v. Pinnacle Communications, 944 S.W.2d 427, 431 n. 1 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1997, no pet.). This distinction is important because we review a judgment pursuant to a motion for judgment differently than a directed or instructed verdict. Qantel, 761 S.W.2d at 303-04. In entering judgment at the close *458 of a plaintiffs case, the trial judge, acting as trier of fact and law, is presumed to have ruled on both the legal and factual issues. Id. at 304; Schwartz, 944 S.W.2d at 431. The trial court in this case, however, made findings of fact and conclusions of law clearly indicating that she ruled against Matheus on the ground that he produced no evidence under the proper measure of damages. Therefore, we do not reach the issue of factual sufficiency of the evidence.

We review Matheus’s complaint that the trial court erred in applying an improper measure of damages as a question of law subject to de novo review. Alamo Cmty. Coll. Dist. v. Browning Const. Co., 131 S.W.3d 146, 161 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2004, pet. filed); Elias v. Mr. Yamaha, Inc., 33 S.W.3d 54, 60 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2000, no pet.). We review Matheus’s complaint that the trial court erred in concluding that he produced no evidence under the proper measure of damages as we would a directed verdict. See Qantel, 761 S.W.2d at 303. In so doing, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to Matheus as the party against whom the motion for judgment was granted and disregard all contrary inferences, to determine whether there is any probative evidence raising a material fact issue. Id.; White v. S.W. Bell Tel. Co., 651 S.W.2d 260, 262 (Tex.1983).

PROPER MEASURE OF DAMAGES

In response to Matheus’s argument that his damages are appropriately measured by the number of square feet by which the property was short times the price he paid per square foot, Appellees argue that there are only two measures of damages for misrepresentation, “benefit of bargain” and “out of pocket,” and that Matheus’s testimony based solely on those calculations is no evidence under either measure of damages. Although we agree that Ma-theus’s evidence does not satisfy either of those measures of damages, we disagree that those are the only measures of damages available for misrepresentation under the DTPA.

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Bluebook (online)
164 S.W.3d 453, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3063, 2005 WL 914473, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matheus-v-sasser-texapp-2005.