Four Corners Realty Financial v. The Burford Group
Two residential loan companies Four Corners Realty Financial (Four Corners) and The Burford Group filed lawsuits against each other. A jury found in favor of Four Corners, awarding it a total of $92,000 in compensatory damages on claims for constructive fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and negligent misrepresentation, and $75,000 in punitive damages. The jury awarded no damages to The Burford Group or its owner, Noah Burford (Burford) (collectively referred to as appellants).
Appellants argue there was no evidence supporting the element of causation on Four Cornerss claims for constructive fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. We agree the only evidence of causation of one type of damage alleged was inadmissible hearsay, and the trial court erred by admitting that evidence; the award of $92,000 in compensatory damages cannot stand. However, there was evidence of damages totaling $65,750, which did not suffer the same evidentiary problem. Therefore, Court direct the trial court to modify the amount of the judgment to reflect only the damages for which there was admissible evidence at trial. The same analysis applies to the element of causation on the negligent misrepresentation claim.
Finally, appellants contentions that the trial court made miscellaneous errors do not require reversal of the judgment. Appellants take issue with the courts comments and rulings during opening statements and closing arguments, but the trial court has wide discretion to control the trial. Although the record shows the trial court initially misunderstood the standard by which it was to consider appellants motion for a new trial, the court did ultimately reweigh the evidence before denying the motion. In any event, any error was not prejudicial.
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