To Whom It May Concern

Three months ago, the court of appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of an attorney who was alleged to have signed a fraudulent verification of deposit form on behalf of the borrower in a $1.9 million loan. In another appeal arising out of that same loan, Bank of Texas has managed to reverse summary judgment in favor of another attorney alleged to have issued letters “To Whom It May Concern” confirming the borrower’s employment and access to the same two trust accounts. The witnesses all told different stories about who prepared and signed the letters and who they had been provided to. Based on that conflicting evidence, the court of appeals concluded that the bank had submitted sufficient evidence to defeat the attorney’s no-evidence motion. Testimony of the law office’s business practices was sufficient to show that it was within the scope of his employees’ duties to sign the attorney’s name to various documents, and that the representations were made in the course of his business as an attorney. The court also rejected the defendant’s attempt to invoke the economic loss rule, reiterating the Supreme Court’s recent holding that the doctrine only applies to the parties to a contract, not between strangers to the contract. See Sharyland Water Supply Corp. v. City of Alton, 354 S.W.3d 407, 418 (Tex. 2011). The court went on to reverse the trial court’s grant of traditional summary judgment in favor of the attorney, holding that the attorney had not conclusively negated the authority of his employees to have prepared and signed the letters. And unlike the earlier case, where Bank of Texas could not show justifiable reliance because the verification form was not addressed to the bank, the letters here were addressed “To Whom It May Concern,” raising the inference that it was reasonable for anyone, including the bank, to rely on them.

Bank of Texas, N.A. v. Glenny, No. 05-11-01478