SBC Operations, Inc. v. Business Equation, Inc.

75 S.W.3d 462, 2001 WL 1631786
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 11, 2002
Docket04-00-00698-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 75 S.W.3d 462 (SBC Operations, Inc. v. Business Equation, 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
SBC Operations, Inc. v. Business Equation, Inc., 75 S.W.3d 462, 2001 WL 1631786 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinions

TOM RICKHOFF, Justice.

SBC Operations, Inc. (“SBC”) and Southwestern Bell Telephone Company (“SBTC”) appeal a judgment rendered on a jury verdict. The jury found SBC hable to The Business Equation, Inc. (“BEI”) for fraud and breach of contract. SBC and SBTC present twelve issues challenging the jury’s liability and damage findings. We conclude the evidence is legally insufficient to support the award of lost profits and terminal value, and the oral contract between the parties is barred by the statute of frauds. Therefore, we reverse the judgment and render a take-nothing judgment in favor of SBC and SBTC.

BACKGROUND

In January 1997, John Allshouse presented the idea of a member services program to SBC. Allshouse and his partner Clark “Dub” Doyal ultimately formed A & D Alliance Resources, Inc. (“ADAR”). The member services program was designed to offer discounts on various goods and services from participating vendors to SBC small and medium size business customers. The program was later given the name BizLink.

As ADAR worked to locate vendors to join the program, ADAR discovered that BEI was engaged in a similar program on a much smaller scale. Judy Wallace and Joyce Axtell were the primary officers of BEI. BEI had contracts in place with vendors that ADAR thought would be good vendors to include in BizLink. On April 10, 1997, ADAR and BEI entered into a [465]*465letter agreement “to authorize [ADAR] to use agreed upon contracts with vendors/partners to provide these services for a member services program for [a] client of [ADAR].” On April 15, 1997, BEI entered into a non-disclosure agreement with SBC. At that time, BEI first learned that the program was to be offered to SBC’s customers. The non-disclosure did not commit either party to a specific arrangement but was intended to facilitate the free-flow of information during the planning and negotiating phases.

As the parties were working on business plans for BizLink, SBC was undertaking to acquire Pacific Bell (“PacBell”). In July 1997, SBC discussed BizLink with PacBell’s marketing team to determine if BizLink should be offered to PacBell business customers. On July 10, 1997, the parties met with several of the participating vendors to discuss BizLink.

The planning documents envisioned that a direct mailing advertising BizLink would be sent to all the small and medium size business customers of SBC and PacBell. The customers would not be charged to join BizLink. The vendors would pay royalties based on the amount of sales to SBC and PacBell customers. The royalties would be divided as follows: SBC- — 60%; ADAR — 20%; and BEI — 20%. The goal of the BizLink program was customer retention; however, the financial projections showed that BizLink would break-even in 1999 based on an early 1997 beginning date.

A formal Member Services Agreement (“MSA”) was entered into between SBC and ADAR on August 28, 1997. Although BEI had wanted to be a party to the MSA, it was not made a party to the final agreement. An appendix of the M.S.A. describes the services ADAR agreed to provide. ADAR is defined as the Seller in the MSA. The appendix states that BEI was approved as a subcontractor. On September 15, 1997, ADAR and BEI entered into a separate contract, setting forth their agreement with respect to the services each was to provide with respect to the BizLink program. The M.S.A. was incorporated by reference into the agreement between ADAR and BEI.

In November 1997, a meeting was held to alleviate the vendors’ concerns regarding the delay in beginning the program. A revised business plan was discussed with a test launch followed by a full launch of BizLink to all SBC/PacBell customers. The plans included a goal of a 10% enrollment rate; ie., if the direct mailing was sent to 100,000, the goal was that 1,000 customers would enroll. In 1998, the goals of BizLink were changed, and SBC management wanted the program to breakeven in 1998.

The launch of BizLink involved a three-city mailing in February 1998: 40,000 mailings in Houston, Texas; 14,934 mailings in Wichita, Kansas; and 25,481 mailings in Austin, Texas. As the responses were being measured, it appeared that the 10% goal would not be met. As a result, additional marketing efforts were undertaken, including a reminder post-card to the same 80,415 customers, another 8,900 mailings to new business customers in a five-state area, inbound telemarketing by SBC (offering BizLink to customers calling for different reasons), outbound telemarketing by SBC (calling and offering BizLink to customers), an advertisement in a magazine SBC provided to customers, and bill inserts. On March 20, 1998, the company SBC paid to perform the direct mailing, RMG, stopped measuring the response level. Based on the responses they measured, only 2.12% of the customers receiving the direct mail enrolled in BizLink.

SBC sent ADAR a formal letter terminating the M.S.A. on May 6, 1998. BEI [466]*466sued SBC for breach of contract and fraud. A jury found SBC liable and awarded BEI $3.6 million for breach of the MSA, $94,000 for breach of an oral call center agreement, $4.6 million for fraud, $4.75 million in exemplary damages,1 and $1.02 million in attorneys’ fees, with additional attorneys’ fees contingent on appeal. BEI elected to recover the damages for the fraud claim. SBC and SBTC timely filed this appeal.

LIABILITY FOR BREACH OF THE ORAL CALL CENTER CONTRACT

In April of 1998, SBC and BEI were modifying the BizLink business plans to find ways to cut expenses and to breakeven quicker. At a meeting, BEI orally agreed to take over the inbound call center for $10,000, plus an additional $10,500 per month. BEI operated the call center from April 1998 through August 1999.

The jury found that SBC breached its oral agreement with BEI, and awarded $94,000 in damages. On appeal, SBC and SBTC argue that the statute of frauds bars such a recovery, and we agree.

The statute of frauds provides that certain promises and agreements are not enforceable unless they are in writing. Tex. Bus. & Com.Code Ann. § 26.01(a) (Vernon 1987). An agreement that is not to be performed within one year from the date of its making must be in writing to be enforceable. Id. If a contract explicitly calls for performance over a period longer than one year, the mere theoretical possibility of termination of the contract within one year because of death or another fortuitous event does not take the contract out of the statute of frauds. Young v. Ward, 917 S.W.2d 506, 511 (Tex.App.-Waco 1996, no writ).

In this case, BEI agreed to take over the call center functions for the full launch of BizLink. In the November 1997 business strategy presentation, the full launch would begin in April of 1998 and continue through the end of 1999, a period in excess of one year. The possibility that SBC could terminate BizLink within one year does not take the contract out of the statute of frauds. Id.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE-LOST PROFITS AND TERMINAL VALUE

SBC and SBTC contend there is legally and factually insufficient evidence to support the jury’s award of lost profits and terminal value. We conclude that the no-evidence challenge is dispositive of all remaining issues on appeal.

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75 S.W.3d 462, 2001 WL 1631786, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sbc-operations-inc-v-business-equation-inc-texapp-2002.