Impermissible Comment = Charge-Error Reversal

Newsom, Terry, & Newsom LLP v. Henry S. Miller Commercial Co. reviewed the trial of an attorney-malpractice claim based on an untimely designation of a responsible third party. The Fifth Court found reversible charge error in the following jury instruction as an impermissible comment:

In resisting a motion to strike a designation of a responsible third party, the Terry Defendants would not have been required to prove the plaintiffs’ case that there was fraud in the underlying transaction. They could rely on evidence of the proposed transaction, its failure, and the identity of a responsible third party as the defaulting buyer in resisting a motion to strike a designation of a responsible third party.

No. 05-20-00379-CV (Aug. 31, 2022) (mem. op.).