Thedford Crossing, L.P. v. Tyler Rose Nursery, Inc.

306 S.W.3d 860, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 622, 2010 WL 325763
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 29, 2010
Docket12-08-00089-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 306 S.W.3d 860 (Thedford Crossing, L.P. v. Tyler Rose Nursery, 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
Thedford Crossing, L.P. v. Tyler Rose Nursery, Inc., 306 S.W.3d 860, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 622, 2010 WL 325763 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

BRIAN T. HOYLE, Justice.

Tyler Rose Nursery, Inc., Joe D. Tew, John A. Williams, III, and WH Group, Inc. d/b/a East Texas Realty have filed a motion for rehearing, which is denied. We withdraw our opinion of December 16, 2009 and substitute the following opinion in its place.

Thedford Crossing, L.P. appeals the trial court’s take nothing judgment entered in favor of Appellees, Tyler Rose Nursery, Inc., Joe D. Tew, John A. Williams, III, and WH Group, Inc. d/b/a East Texas Realty. Thedford raises four issues on appeal. We reverse and remand.

Background

In 2003, Joe D. Tew and his company, Tyler Rose Nursery, Inc. (collectively “Tew”) contracted with representatives of the T.M. Morriss Family Limited Partnership,1 whereby Tew agreed to sell and Thedford agreed to buy approximately 361 acres of undeveloped commercial property located near the intersection of Interstate 20 and Highway 69. The contract provided for a cash sale of the property for $6,000,000. Thedford subsequently paid a $50,000 fee to extend the closing date of the contract by one year.

In August 2005, during the period of the extension, the parties entered into an amended contract, which stated, in pertinent part, as follows:

H. Other Modifications:
This option contract shall close on/or before November 15, 2005 or terminate with no further options or extensions. Seller and Purchaser have agreed to close one of two ways:
1. Payment of the original purchase price of $6,000,000 or
2. Purchaser, by notifying Seller by November 1, 2005, shall pay Seller $2,000,000 with mutual agreement to the following terms and conditions:
a. The total purchase price shall be raised to $10,000,000.
b. Seller shall release 50 contiguous acres to purchaser, such land to be mutually agreed upon.
c. Further releases to purchaser shall be at the rate of $1.00 per sq. ft. and shall be in 10 acre mínimums.
d. The final closing date shall be extended to November 15, 2009 with any remaining balance due and payable by that date.

Thedford elected to proceed under the seller financed option set forth in paragraph (H)(2) and deposited the $2,000,000 into escrow. Thereafter, the parties sought to negotiate the location of the fifty contiguous acres to be released pursuant to paragraph (H)(2)(b) of the contract.

However, as the date for closing approached, the parties had not reached an agreement concerning the location of the fifty acre tract. At closing,2 Tew set forth [866]*866that he would agree to the fifty acre tract Thedford proposed and proceed with the transaction if Thedford would agree to certain restrictions on future partial releases. Ultimately, the parties could not agree on the location of the fifty acre tract, and the sale was not closed.

Thedford filed the instant suit on November 18, 2005 alleging, among other causes of action, breach of contract and fraud. The matter proceeded to a jury trial. At the conclusion of Thedford’s presentation of evidence, the trial court entered a directed verdict on Thedford’s fraud claim. Subsequently, prior to the submission of the case to the jury, the trial court, over Thedford’s objection, conditioned the submission of Question 2 of the court’s charge on the jury’s affirmative response to Question 1. These questions in the court’s charge inquire of the jury as follows:

QUESTION NO. 1:
Did THEDFORD CROSSING, L.P. and TYLER ROSE NURSERY, INC. and JOE D. TEW enter into a contractual agreement on the location and configuration of a tract of 50 acres to be released to THEDFORD CROSSING, L.P. at the closing for the sale and purchase of the 361.917 acres of land located in Smith, County, Texas?
ANSWER “YES” OR “NO”
ANSWER: _
IF YOU HAVE ANSWERED QUESTION NO. 1 WES” THEN ANSWER QUESTION NO. 2. OTHERWISE DO NOT ANSWER QUESTION NO. 2[J
QUESTION NO. 2:
Did TYLER ROSE NURSERY, INC. and JOE D. TEW fail to comply with a material obligation of their agreement with THEDFORD CROSSING, L.P. to sell and convey to THEDFORD CROSSING, L.P. the 361.917 [acre] tract of land located at 1-20 and Jim Hogg Road in Smith County, Texas at the closing on November 15, 2005?
ANSWER YES OR NO
ANSWER: _

The jury answered “No” in response to Question 1 and, pursuant to the trial court’s instruction, did not answer Question 2. Accordingly, the trial court entered a take nothing judgment against Thedford, and this appeal followed.3

Charge Error — Improperly Conditioned Question

In its first issue, Thedford argues that by conditioning Question 2 on the jury’s affirmative answer to Question 1, the trial court erroneously charged the jury under a legally incorrect interpretation of the parties’ contact. Specifically, Thedford contends that the parties’ agreement concerning the location of the fifty acre tract was not a condition precedent to closing the sale of the property.

Standard of Review

If an erroneous conditional submission deprives a party of the submission of an issue raised by the pleadings and evidence, it constitutes reversible error. See Varme v. Gordon, 881 S.W.2d 877, 881 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1994, writ denied). Complaints regarding the trial court’s charge are reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. Tex. Dep’t [867]*867of Human Servs. v. E.B., 802 S.W.2d 647, 649 (Tex.1990). An abuse of discretion occurs when the trial court acts without reference to any guiding principles. Id. An error in the charge is reversible only if harmful, that is, if it was reasonably calculated to cause and probably did cause the rendition of an improper judgment. Akin v. Santa Clara Land Co., 34 S.W.3d 334, 345 (Tex.App.-San Antonio 2000, pet. denied). To determine whether an alleged error is harmful, we consider the pleadings, the evidence presented at trial, and the charge in its entirety. Island Recreational Dev. Corp. v. Republic of Tex. Sav. Ass’n, 710 S.W.2d 551, 555 (Tex.1986).

Contractual Construction and Conditions Precedent

In construing a written contract, the primary concern of the court is to ascertain the true intentions of the parties as expressed in the instrument. Coker v. Coker, 650 S.W.2d 391, 393 (Tex.1983); see also Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA v. CBI Industries, Inc., 907 S.W.2d 517, 520 (Tex.1995).

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Bluebook (online)
306 S.W.3d 860, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 622, 2010 WL 325763, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thedford-crossing-lp-v-tyler-rose-nursery-inc-texapp-2010.