Court Opinion

ID: 9672422
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:54:47.355105+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:16.065065
License: Public Domain

DORSEY, Justice,
concurring.
I concur in the judgment of the court, however, I disagree with the analysis and disposition of appellant’s third point of error. The court holds that the trial court erred by instructing the jury that fraud could be based on a false statement that was made “recklessly without any knowledge of its truth and as a positive assertion.” I believe a reckless assertion may indeed constitute a basis for fraud if the other elements are present.
The essence of actual fraud is a deception with the intent to deceive and induce reliance. Blue Bell v. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., 715 S.W.2d 408, 415 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1986, writ ref’d n.r.e.). It is the intentional breach of one’s duty to another to speak the truth, designed to injure or procure some wrongful advantage. Chien v. Chen, 759 S.W.2d 484, 494-95 (Tex.App.—Austin 1988, no writ). The Dallas Court in Blue Bell explained that the intent element in a fraud action requires a great degree of purposeful conduct; that is, merely because it “should be known” to the speaker that another will rely on his representation is not enough. Blue Bell, 715 S.W.2d at 415.
The intent to deceive must exist at the time the false statement relied on is made. See Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Misty Prods., Inc., 820 S.W.2d 414, 419 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, denied); Blue Bell, 715 S.W.2d at 415. Intent is always difficult to prove, and its proof is usually from the surrounding circumstances, as one charged with fraud rarely admits the false statement was uttered intending to deceive the other. See generally Custom Leasing, Inc. v. Texas Bank & Trust Co. of Dallas, 516 S.W.2d 138, 144 (Tex.1974); Alamo Sav. Ass’n of Texas v. Forward Constr. Corp., 746 S.W.2d 897, 899-900 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1988, writ dism’d w.o.j.) (fraud in the transaction); O’Shea v. Coronado Transmission Co., 656 S.W.2d 557, 562 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1983, writ ref’d n.r.e.), appeal after remand, 703 S.W.2d 731 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 1985, writ ref’d n.r.e.).
Intent to deceive by the utterance of a false statement may certainly be shown by evidence that the speaker knew the statement was false at the time. Dowling v. NADW Mktg., Inc., 631 S.W.2d 726, 727 (Tex.1982); Johnson v. Smith, 697 S.W.2d 625, 633 (Tex.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1985, no writ). However, ignorance of the truth or falsity of the statement as well as *714the reckless assertion of it as truth may also support a conclusion the statement was made with the intention that the other act on it to his detriment. Custom Leasing, 516 S.W.2d at 144 (quoting Wilson v. Jones, 45 S.W.2d 572, 575 (Tex.Comm.App.1932)). The Court in Wilson stated, “[W]here affirmative representations of fact are made and designed to be acted upon by another and he does so believing them to be true when they are false, one making the representations is liable, regardless of his knowledge of falsity or intent to deceive.” Wilson, 45 S.W.2d at 575 (emphasis added); see 37 C.J.S. Fraud § 21 (1943). The majority holds that in order for a promise of a future action to constitute a fraudulent representation, the promissor must lack the intent to perform. In this case, the promissor, Bernstein, is not the party who will allegedly perform in the future. Rather, the representation made here was a promise by Bernstein that another entity, Legel Braswell, would perform some future act, not that Bernstein himself would do so.
One can never know with absolute certainty whether another will perform; one cannot promise the future actions of another. As such, the requisite element of the promissor’s intent to perform is not applicable to situations like this one. Therefore, we apply the standard law of frauds to this case. All that is required is an assertion of fact made recklessly or with knowledge of its falsity with the intent that the other party will rely. Bernstein could not know whether Legel and Braswell would make Portland whole, yet Bernstein made that representation to Portland with the intent to deceive and induce action.
I would overrule point of error three. Otherwise I concur in the judgment of the court.