Vick v. Waits
Texas Court of Appeals
2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 3982 (2002)

- Written by Melissa Hammond, JD
Facts
Gary C. Wick and Carolyn Wick (plaintiffs) contracted with Bantam (defendant) for the construction of an office building. A dispute arose between the Wicks and Bantam after construction had been completed. The parties attended mediation and reached a settlement agreement in which Bantam assigned all claims for repairs, corrections, and warranty work to the Wicks and agreed to use its best efforts to cause all subcontractors to cooperate with the Wicks on any corrections. Waits (defendant), a subcontractor, was not a party to the settlement agreement. The agreement did not identify any specific claims or warranties on the building. Months after the settlement agreement had been reached, the Wicks brought an action against Bantam and Waits for breach of the agreement and fraud, claiming Bantam and Waits had not cooperated with the Wicks in good faith with regard to the project warranties and corrections. The Wicks also claimed that Bantam and Waits fraudulently induced them to sign the settlement agreement by representing during mediation that the agreement would be enforceable against subcontractors, that they would use their best efforts to cooperate in any corrections, and that any claims for warranties and corrections would be assigned to the Wicks. Bantam and Waits sought summary judgment on the fraud claim on the ground that the Wicks offered no evidence of false representations. The Wicks provided an affidavit from Gary Wick, which detailed numerous alleged false representations, as the basis of their fraud claim. Bantam and Waits objected to this evidence on the ground that much of it had been made during the mediation. Therefore, they claimed the statements were confidential under the Texas Alternative Dispute Resolution Procedures Act. The trial court agreed and granted summary judgment. The Wicks appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Wright, J.)
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