In Davis v. White, a lawyer sued his former partner over the application of a receivable. No. 02-13-00191-CV, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 3075 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth March 24, 2016, no pet. history). A jury awarded the plaintiff over $300,000 in actual damages and $2.8 million in exemplary damages. The
caps for punitive damages
Court Holds that Disgorgement Award for Breach of Fiduciary Duty Was Neither Punitive Nor Excessive and that Exemplary Damages Were Reasonably Proportioned to Damages
By Joseph Regan on
Posted in Cases Decided
A court of appeals recently issued an opinion rejecting a fiduciary’s claims regarding the excessiveness of the trial court’s judgment that awarded disgorgement and exemplary damages. In Swinnea v. ERI Consulting Engineers, Inc., Snodgrass and Swinnea owned equal interests in ERI, a small consulting company that managed asbestos abatement…
Fiduciaries And Beneficiaries Should Be Aware Of Criminal Statutes
By David Fowler Johnson on
Posted in Latest From Knowledge Library
There are several criminal statutes that implicate fiduciary activities in Texas that are not well-known: misappropriation of fiduciary property and financial exploitation of the elderly. Though these may be similar in some ways to a theft charge, they are different criminal charges. Rhinehardt v. State, No. 08-01-00335-CR, 2003 Tex.