[Download] "Ashford Development v. Uslife Real Estate Services Corporation Et Al." by Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Ashford Development v. Uslife Real Estate Services Corporation Et Al.
- Author : Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
- Release Date : January 07, 1983
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 73 KB
Description
This case involves a dispute over the construction of a loan commitment agreement between a developer, a loan broker, and an agent for a potential lender. Petitioner, Ashford Development, Inc., wanted to build an office/warehouse complex on a tract of land in the northwest part of the city of Houston, but it needed a loan commitment for interim financing before the project could be commenced. Ashford contacted a mortgage broker, Carruth Mortgage Corp., and agreed to pay Carruth 1% of the loan commitment if Carruth could find a lender of money. Carruth contacted the other respondent, USLife Real Estate Services, a holding company for several insurance companies. USLife required Ashford to fill out a letter of financing intent, listing the terms Ashford desired. USLife also required an application fee of $11,000, which was non-refundable if USLife found a lender willing to loan on Ashfords terms. The letter of financing intent contained a provision which would permit the lender to add supplemental provisions as it deemed reasonably necessary to conform to the particular requirements of the transaction. Also, attached to the letter were form terms of the loan commitment. USLife found a lender for the amount requested by Ashford. However, the prospective lender sought to add a term to the loan commitment that required that Antoine, a street, which, when completed, would front on the proposed development, be 100% completed before the money would be loaned. Ashford treated this as a counter-proposal and declined to pursue the loan commitment. USLife claimed it had found a lender, who was merely supplementing the provisions of the letter of financing intent, as it was allowed, and retained the $11,000. Ashford refused to pay Carruth the brokerage fee. Accordingly, Ashford sued USLife and Carruth sued Ashford. Trial was to the court without a jury, and the judgment of the court was that Ashford take nothing against USLife and that Carruth recover from Ashford $11,000 for the brokerage fee and $6,000 as attorneys fees. The court of appeals affirmed. 649 S.W.2d 96. We reverse the judgments of the courts below and render judgment that Carruth take nothing from Ashford and Ashford recover its $11,000 application fee from USLife. We remand this cause to the district court for determination of the amount of the reasonable attorneys fees to which Ashford is entitled.