Court Opinion

ID: 9642896
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 18:11:49.545589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:54.019184
License: Public Domain

ROBERTSON, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. In Alamo Lumber Company v. Gold, 661 S.W.2d 926 (Tex.1983), this Court held when a lender requires a borrower to pay the debt of another, as a condition to making a loan, that debt must be included in the computation to determine usury. However, in the present case, this Court has held where a bank requires a borrower pay expenses the borrower was not previously liable for, as a condition to extending a loan, those expenses need not be included in the calculation to determine usury. I fail to see the distinction.
Texas Commerce Bank required the Goldrings to reimburse the bank for an obligation incurred solely by the bank for the protection of the interest in collateral securing the Goldrings’ note before agreeing to grant an extension of the Goldrings’ loan. The bank, without request or legal obligation, employed counsel. The attorneys were selected and under the exclusive direction of the bank. The legal assistance was for the expressed purpose of protecting the bank’s pecuniary interest. The attorneys looked solely to the Bank for payment of services.
It is this independent debt of the bank which the bank requires the Goldrings to assume as a condition precedent to the extension of the underlying loan. It is inconceivable to me how a lender’s debt forced upon a borrower is not a factor which should be considered to determine usury.