Court Opinion

ID: 9779448
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:50:52.682686+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:26.455928
License: Public Domain

WALLACE, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent.
The jury’s findings do not support a recovery for Alvarado under the DTPA or any other theory because, as a matter of law, Bolton did not breach an express warranty. The majority acknowledges that the doctrine of merger is accurately stated in the case of Baker v. Baker, 207 S.W.2d 244 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1947, writ ref’d n.r.e.). I set forth the pertinent language from that decision in full, with appropriate emphasis:
The Rule applicable in all contracts, that prior stipulations are merged in the final and formal contract executed by the parties, applies, of course, to a deed based *49upon a contract to convey. When a deed is delivered and accepted as performance of a contract to convey, the contract is merged in the deed. Though the terms of the deed may vary from those contained in the contract, still the deed must be looked to alone to determine the rights of the parties. No rule of law is better settled than that where a deed has been executed and accepted as performance of an executory contract to convey real estate, the contract is func-tus offido and the rights of the parties rest thereafter solely in the deed.
Id. at 249 — 50, quoting 2 DEVLIN, LAW OF DEEDS § 850a (emphasis added). Hence, when Alvarado accepted the deed as performance of the earnest money contract, any “warranty” contained in the latter was extinquished. The majority errs in stating that an “express warranty made in an earnest money contract” was “breached by deed,” since at the very moment this purported breach occurred there was no longer any warranty to be breached. Because the DTPA does not create any warranties or contract rights, the fact that this action was brought under the DTPA is wholly irrelevant to the question as to whether a warranty exists.
Section 17.50 of the Business and Commerce Code describes four distinct categories of actions that a consumer may bring in order to obtain relief under the Act: (1) A violation of the “laundry list” set forth in the Act; (2) a breach of an express or implied warranty; (3) the commission of an unconscionable act or course of action; and (4) a violation of Article 21.21 of the Insurance Code. When the consumer is attempting to establish a misrepresentation in violation of the “laundry list”, then the courts have consistently held that the parol evidence rule will not bar such proof. Weitzel v. Barnes, 691 S.W.2d 598, 600 (Tex.1985), and cases cited therein. By analogy, if Alvarado had alleged that Bolton had made some misrepresentation, then it seems clear that the doctrine of merger would not have barred proof of the misrepresentation.
However, Alvardo’s DTPA action was brought pursuant to § 17.50(a)(2), premised upon allegations that Bolton had breached an express warranty. Nothing in Weitzel suggests that a plaintiff should be permitted to establish an express warranty in the face of a fully integrated agreement. In fact, it was because the plaintiff was not attempting to vary or contradict the contract that the court in Weitzel refused to apply the parol evidence rule, and held that the rule would not bar proof of a “laundry list” violation. Id. at 600. In this case, Alvarado is attempting, in effect, to use the DTPA to create the very warranty upon which his DTPA suit is based, a warranty that is not contained within the four corners of the deed. Weitzel has no application here.
The court of appeals regarded the doctrine of merger as a rule of evidence rather than a substantive defense. 714 S.W.2d at 123. The majority indicates that at least in this case the doctrine was used as a substantive defense. This distinction is not important. What is important is that if Alvarado had brought this suit independently of the DTPA and under the common law, he could not have prevailed because he could not have established an essential element of the action. This result would have obtained not because Bolton had a good defense or because Bolton’s evidentiary objections would have been well taken, but because Alvarado, in pleading that a previous warranty was breached by a deed, would have negated his own cause of action. By pleading that the deed “breached” the previous warranty by failing to include it or including inconsistent terms, Alvarado would have conceded that there was no warranty upon which to base his suit.
The fact that this action was brought under the DTPA is therefore of no consequence. The DTPA does not define the term “warranty,” nor does it create any warranties. La Sara Grain v. First National Bank of Mercedes, 673 S.W.2d 558, 565 (Tex.1984). Any warranty upon which a DTPA action is predicated must therefore be established independently of the Act. Id.
*50The case before us was tried on two theories: (1) breach of express warranty; and (2) unconscionable action or course of action. No attempt was made to establish a laundry list violation. The jury returned answers adverse to Alvarado on the “unconscionable act” theory, but found a breach of warranty. As a matter of law, no such warranty existed. Thus, the court of appeals was correct in finding that Alvarado failed to prove a cause of action.
The judgment of the court of appeals should be affirmed.
PHILLIPS, C.J., and GONZALEZ and CULVER, JJ., join in this dissent.