Jury Votes to Award More Than $7 million in South Dallas Housing Dispute
A Dallas County jury on Wednesday voted to award more than $7 million to a Dallas man who was denied a promised stake in a South Dallas housing development that he helped finance.
[USPRwire, Mon Jul 30 2007] A Dallas County jury on Wednesday voted to award more than $7 million to a Dallas man who was denied a promised stake in a South Dallas housing development that he helped finance.
In his lawsuit against Texas Standard Construction and its president Ronald Dalton, plaintiff Russell Alexander charged that he was promised a 33 percent partnership in the Casas Del Sol real estate project developed in 2001.
The jury of five men and seven women deliberated nearly four hours Wednesday before voting to award approximately $1.9 million on each of four separate findings of liability, breach of contract, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. The jury also awarded Mr. Alexander $122,000 in lost sales commissions and $287,000 in attorneys’ fees.
Based on an oral agreement, Mr. Alexander secured more than $7 million in loans that allowed the project to move forward and ultimately succeed. Mr. Alexander’s attorney, Trey Cox of Dallas-based Lynn Tillotson & Pinker, said Mr. Dalton and Texas Standard Construction did not honor the oral agreement. The promised partnership never materialized, and Mr. Alexander’s commission on homes sold in the development was cut off without notice, Mr. Cox said.
“My client played a key role in making Casas Del Sol a successful real estate development,” Mr. Cox says. “He secured these finances with the understanding that he would have a stake in this business venture. The other partners in this deal did not live up to their side of the bargain.”
Mr. Cox said the case was a difficult legal challenge because the deal was based on an oral contract. He said, jurors in the 68th Judicial District Court in Dallas County were ultimately swayed by third-party witnesses and documents that confirmed the existence of the agreement, as well as the defendant’s inconsistent testimony revealed in cross examination.
“This is the highest form of advocacy. It’s strictly a `He said, she said’ case,” Mr. Cox says. “How do you convince a jury that one person is more credible than the other? We did it through third-party witnesses, collateral documents and the defendant’s own testimony.”
Lynn Tillotson & Pinker is a nationally recognized trial law firm focusing on complex, “high stakes” litigation where results truly matter. The firm has recovered more than $300 million for clients and defeated at trial claims of more than $800 million in the last five years.
For more information, please contact Robert Tharp at 214-559-4630, 214-458-4007(cell) or robert@legalpr.com.
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