Jesse R. Lovelace, Individually and D/B/A/ Jesse Lovelace Construction Company, Appellant v. Sabine Consolidated, Inc., Appellee, 733 S.W.2d 648

Summary

Appellant, construction company, was awarded two contracts with a city to construct sewers. Appellant entered into two joint venture agreements with appellee, contractor, to share responsibility, control, and profits of the sewer projects. Appellant diverted money from the projects to his own account and appellee filed an action for an accounting and damages. A jury awarded actual and punitive damages, along with attorney's fees. On appeal, the court held that the ordinance approving the contracts with appellant, which prohibited subcontracting, did not make the joint venture agreements illegal. The court also held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in limiting discovery or, if it did, it was harmless and not grounds for reversal and retrial. However, the court held that the trial court erred in awarding punitive damages where there was no independent finding of actual damages in tort and the evidence offered to prove lost profits on one of the projects did not support ...