Gordon & Rees partners Bob Bragalone and Soña Garcia obtained a complete trial victory in Dallas County District Court February 19 for their client, a commercial real estate broker.
Plaintiff, an optometry practice in the downtown Dallas area, sued for breach of fiduciary duty arising out of the broker relationship. Plaintiff alleged that the broker breached his fiduciary duties by, inter alia, putting his own interests above his client, misrepresenting the terms of the lease for his own benefit, and specific acts of disloyalty to the client in valuing his relationship with the commercial lessor above his relationship to his client.
Immediately following the Plaintiff’s presentation of its case-in-chief and having thoroughly cross-examined Plaintiff’s nine witnesses, Bragalone and Garcia moved for judgment as a matter of law, arguing that the Plaintiff failed to meet its burden and that the evidence adduced through Plaintiff’s case-in-chief demonstrated conclusively that there was no breach of any fiduciary duty and that the Plaintiff had impermissibly fractured its professional liability claim into one of breach of fiduciary duty in order to escape the application of the statute of limitations.
After a lengthy 90-minute argument, the Trial Judge granted the Motion, awarding Judgment as a matter of law against Plaintiff on all claims, with the result that Gordon & Rees’ client was completely vindicated at trial.