Court Opinion

ID: 9681124
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:44:13.952346+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:20.421043
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
POWERS, Justice.
Both parties have moved for rehearing. We find the contentions raised in Hard-wick’s motion to be without merit and overrule them. Austin Gallery assigns two errors in its motion. We will sustain one and overrule the other.
Austin Gallery contends we erred in holding it was not entitled to the $5,037.68 awarded it by the trial court as “actual damages,” and entitled as well to the statutory penalties for usury authorized by Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 5069-1.06(1) (Supp.1987). We conclude we did err in that respect and reform our original judg-
ment to award Austin Gallery recovery of its “actual damages” in the amount of $5,037.68 as found by the trial court, together with the $15,113.04 in statutory penalties authorized by article 5069-1.06(1). Austin Gallery contends in its second assignment of error that we erred in not also awarding it recovery under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Tex.Bus. & Com.Code Ann. § 17.43 (1987). We conclude we did not err in that respect. Accordingly, we overrule the assignment of error.
DAMAGES FOR USURY
Under the parties’ executory contract, Hardwick demanded and Austin Gallery paid him $5,037.68. Austin Gallery then sued Hardwick for that sum in addition to the statutory penalties authorized for usury by article 5069-1.06(1)., The trial court awarded Austin Gallery the amount paid but denied it recovery of the statutory penalties for usury.
The common law authorizes recovery of usury even when paid voluntarily. Bexar Building & Loan Ass’n v. Robinson, 78 Tex. 163, 14 S.W. 227, 228 (1890). The Supreme Court of Texas has recently held that the statutory penalties for usury are recoverable in addition to the sums recoverable at common law on a claim of usury when the statutory and common law causes of action are properly pleaded and claims of error regarding them are preserved on appeal. Danziger v. San Jacinto Savings Ass’n, 732 S.W.2d 300, 304 (Tex.1987); see also Commercial Credit Equipment Corp. v. West, 677 S.W.2d 669, 678-80 (Tex.App.1984, writ ref’d n.r.e.). The amount of usury paid is recoverable at common law in an action for equitable restitution based on a theory that the usury is money fraudulently “had and received.” Merryfield v. Willson, 14 Tex. 112, 113 (1855). The cause of action obviously antedates the statutory remedy given by article 5069-1.06(1). Nothing in that statute evidences a legislative intention to supplant the common-law remedy. In light of this and the holding in Danziger, we view the statutory remedy of article 5069-1.06(1) as cumulative of the common-law remedy.
In its pleadings, Austin Gallery contended and prayed for judgment in the amount of the $5,037.68 paid by it and received by Hardwick. Austin Gallery recovered that sum after trial. Austin Gallery pleaded independently the statutory action for penalties under article 5069-1.-06(1), but it was denied recovery. We conclude this was error, as was our original action in denying Austin Gallery recovery of the cumulative remedies. We hold accordingly.
DECEPTIVE TRADE PRACTICES
We originally held that Austin Gallery was not entitled to yet another statutory remedy in addition to that for usury and its common-law remedy for money fraudulently had and received. We refer to Austin Gallery’s claim for damages based upon deceptive trade practices as authorized by Tex.Bus. & Com.Code Ann. § 17.50 (1987). We rejected the claim on the ground that § 17.43 forbids recovery under § 17.50 if penal sums are recovered under another statute, such as article 5069-1.06(1). Austin Gallery contends the circumstances of the present controversy justified a recovery notwithstanding § 17.43. We disagree.
Austin Gallery’s contention rests on a theory that in the present case recovery *449under one statute would be based upon a different act or practice than under the other statute. Birchfield v. Texarkana Memorial Hospital, 747 S.W.2d 361 (Tex. 1987); Mayo v. John Hancock Mutual Life Ins. Co., 711 S.W.2d 5 (Tex.1986); Kish v. Van Note, 692 S.W.2d 463 (Tex.1985).
The trial court found that Hard-wick “represented to the title company and to [Austin Gallery] that he was entitled under his real estate lien note to 10% of the principal balance as a penalty for ... late payments on the note, and initially [Hard-wick] would not sign a release of lien unless he was paid the additional 10%.” The court also found that Hardwick, in refusing to sign the release of lien, acted “on the mistaken and unfounded belief that the language of the real estate lien note ... supported his claim for an additional 10% of the principal.” Austin Gallery suggests that Hardwick’s “misrepresenting” his entitlement to the 10% under the note is a different act or practice from his “charging” of the 10%. We disagree. We believe the findings refer simply to one act and its cause. We therefore overrule the second assignment of error brought by Austin Gallery.