🏠Home & Property
TX
Three years of payments, undone by one missing disclosure
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2013
What happenedBuyers paid on a contract-for-deed home for about three years. They said the seller never gave them information the Property Code required, and asked to unwind the deal.
🔍 What the court examinedWhat a statutory disclosure failure does to rescission, and whether both sides have to give back what they received — including the value of occupancy.
📌 TakeawayRescission means putting both sides back where they started, which cuts in both directions.
↩️ refund📝 written agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
TX
A written deal, then a handshake change on top of it
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 1955
What happenedAn apartment property changed hands under a written contract that used store inventory as part of the price. Afterwards the parties argued about a spoken agreement covering the inventory and a job running the store.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the statute of frauds covering land also swallowed a separate employment arrangement.
📌 TakeawayA side agreement can stand on its own footing even when the main deal is about land.
📐 scope of work🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
TX
He backed out. Then he asked the court to enforce the deal.
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 1980
What happenedA buyer signed six earnest-money contracts, refused to go through with them, and later demanded the sale be completed after all.
🔍 What the court examinedWhat walking away after the closing date does to the right to force performance later.
📌 TakeawayRepudiating a contract can cost the right to demand it be performed.
🚪 cancellation📝 written agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
TX
A buy-back clause, ignored — and the cost of the delay
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2025
What happenedAn amended land contract required the seller to buy the property back in certain circumstances. When that was refused, the other side asked for the deal to be enforced plus the cost of the wait.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether a court can order performance and money for the delay at the same time.
📌 TakeawayDelay costs can travel with an order to perform, if they are tied closely enough to it.
⏳ delay📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
🏠Home & Property
TX
The association banned short-term rentals. Could it?
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2022
What happenedAn owner ran short-term rentals. The association applied a restriction to stop it and obtained an injunction.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the existing deed restrictions and the Property Code actually gave that power.
📌 TakeawayAn association can only enforce the power its own documents gave it.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
🏠Home & Property
AZ
She asked for the deposit back. They wanted a second request.
🏛️ Arizona · Court of Appeals · 2024
What happenedDeparting tenants asked for their security deposit. The landlord argued they should also have separately demanded an itemized list of deductions.
🔍 What the court examinedWhat the deposit statute actually requires a tenant to ask for, and by when.
📌 TakeawayAsking for your money back was enough; a second demand was not required.
↩️ refund📝 written agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
AZ
The neighbours voted in a rule that was never there before
🏛️ Arizona · Supreme Court · 2022
What happenedAn owner challenged amendments that added new restrictions and obligations without his agreement.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether a general power to amend covers restrictions the original documents never hinted at.
📌 TakeawayA power to amend is not a power to invent something nobody signed up for.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
AZ
Fix the title first, then we'll talk about enforcing the sale
🏛️ Arizona · Supreme Court · 1953
What happenedA land contract dispute turned on possession, marketable title, and defects clouding it.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether a seller must be able to deliver clean title before performance is ordered, and whether they get a chance to fix it.
📌 TakeawayA defect gets a chance to be cured before the deal is called off.
🚪 cancellation📝 written agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
AZ
He signed it, amended it, then tried to undo it
🏛️ Arizona · Supreme Court · 1961
What happenedA landowner sought to void a real-estate option he had entered into and later amended, calling it vague.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the option was definite enough, and what his own amendments showed about his agreement to it.
📌 TakeawayAmending a document is a hard thing to walk back later.
🚪 cancellation📝 written agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
AZ
Which of the new HOA rules could owners have seen coming?
🏛️ Arizona · Court of Appeals · 2024
What happenedOwners challenged amendments including a thirty-day minimum lease restriction and occupancy limits.
🔍 What the court examinedHow to apply the notice test to each amendment separately.
📌 TakeawaySome amendments survived and some did not — each was judged on its own.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
TX
The neighbor's tree came down on the fence. Then came the bill.
🏛️ Texas · Justice Court · 2025
What happenedOne neighbor paid for repairs and demanded reimbursement from the other. The other said the tree was healthy and the storm was the cause.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the tree owner knew or should have known the tree was a hazard before it fell.
📌 TakeawayKnowledge before the event mattered more than who owned the tree.
🔧 quality of work🗣️ verbal agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
AZ
The deposit was never returned, and neither was the walkthrough form
🏛️ Arizona · Justice Court · 2025
What happenedA departing roommate demanded a deposit back. The remaining occupant said damage exceeded it.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether a move-out condition record existed at all.
📌 TakeawayMissing documentation hurt the person who had the duty to create it.
↩️ refund🙋 person ↔ person
🏠Home & Property
TX
Homeowner withheld the final payment over a punch list
🏛️ Texas · County Court · 2024
What happenedA remodel was substantially finished but a list of small items remained open.
🔍 What the court examinedWhat "substantial completion" meant under the parties' own contract.
📌 TakeawayThe contract language governed, not industry custom.
🔧 quality of work📝 written agreement🧑🔧 individual ↔ contractor
🏠Home & Property
AZ
Contractor walked off. Both sides said the other quit first.
🏛️ Arizona · Superior Court · 2023
What happenedWork stopped mid-project after a payment was late and a change was requested.
🔍 What the court examinedThe sequence of the late payment and the work stoppage.
📌 TakeawayWho breached first turned on dates, not on fault.
⏳ delay📝 written agreement🧑🔧 individual ↔ contractor
🏠Home & Property
TX
The change order nobody signed
🏛️ Texas · County Court · 2025
What happenedExtra work was performed after a verbal go-ahead. The contract required written change orders.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the written-change-order requirement had been waived by conduct.
📌 TakeawayA requirement both sides ignored still mattered at the end.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🧑🔧 individual ↔ contractor
📄Business & Contracts
TX
One contract named a court. Did that bind the others?
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2020
What happenedA linked set of business and property deals used several contracts. Only some contained a forum-selection clause.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether related agreements can be read as one instrument, and how far a forum clause reaches.
📌 TakeawayRelated contracts signed together are not automatically one contract.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
TX
What the salesperson said, versus what the contract said
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2019
What happenedA large software rollout failed. The customer pointed to statements made before signing.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the contract's own reliance and disclaimer language blocks a claim built on the sales pitch.
📌 TakeawayA disclaimer you signed can outrank what you were told before signing it.
🔧 quality of work🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
TX
When a contract leaves a date open, who fills it in?
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2023
What happenedParties to energy asset purchase agreements disagreed about when certain obligations started.
🔍 What the court examinedHow contract wording and background default rules interact on dates and periods.
📌 TakeawayDefault rules can fill a gap, but only where the wording leaves one.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
TX
The dealership he was promised was not the one he signed for
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2019
What happenedA car dealer said he had been promised a particular market and location before signing. The final written agreement said otherwise.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether relying on a promise that the signed contract directly contradicts can be justified.
📌 TakeawayReliance is hard to defend when the contract in your hand says the opposite.
📐 scope of work🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
TX
Was a stack of emails already the contract?
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2020
What happenedDuring easement negotiations, emails and documents went back and forth before any final agreement was signed. One side said the exchange was already binding.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether those emails carried the terms and signature a land agreement requires.
📌 TakeawayNegotiating in writing is not the same as signing.
📐 scope of work🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
TX
They planned it together. Did that make them partners?
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2020
What happenedTwo companies worked toward a joint pipeline project. One went elsewhere; the other said a partnership already existed.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether agreed conditions — board approval, definitive documents — can stop a partnership from forming.
📌 TakeawayConditions the parties set for themselves can hold, even when the conduct looks like a partnership.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
AZ
The building went up ten feet off — and there was no contract between them
🏛️ Arizona · Supreme Court · 2022
What happenedA staking error put buildings about ten feet from where they were planned, costing usable space. The developer and the engineering firm had no direct contract.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether a design professional owes a duty for purely financial loss to someone they never contracted with.
📌 TakeawayWithout a contract between them, purely financial loss is hard to reach.
🔧 quality of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
AZ
The law changed and the business closed. The lease did not.
🏛️ Arizona · Court of Appeals · 2013
What happenedA lender's Arizona licensing regime sunset. The tenant left the premises and the landlord sued for the remaining rent.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether a change in the law frustrated the lease's purpose, and what the landlord had to do to limit the loss.
📌 TakeawayA foreseeable change in the law is a weak excuse for leaving a lease.
🚪 cancellation📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
AZ
Ordered shut, still billed for rent
🏛️ Arizona · Court of Appeals · 2023
What happenedCOVID-19 closure orders stopped a gym from operating. The tenant disputed rent for that period.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the force-majeure wording or frustration excused paying rent.
📌 TakeawayBeing unable to trade did not, on this lease, excuse the rent.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
TX
The contract said "notice and cure." Nobody sent notice.
🏛️ Texas · Court of Appeals · 2023
What happenedBoth sides stopped performing and each accused the other of breaching first.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether written notice was given before either side walked away.
📌 TakeawayA clause both parties ignored ended up deciding the case.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
TX
A verbal deal, a paid deposit, and no written scope
🏛️ Texas · County Court · 2024
What happenedWork began on a handshake. When the relationship broke down, each side described a different deal.
🔍 What the court examinedWhat the invoices and texts showed about the terms actually agreed.
📌 TakeawayContemporaneous messages carried more weight than either side's later account.
📐 scope of work🗣️ verbal agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
TX
They filed in court. The contract said arbitration.
🏛️ Texas · Court of Appeals · 2025
What happenedOne party went straight to court despite an arbitration clause buried in the terms.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the clause was agreed to and whether it covered this dispute.
📌 TakeawayWhere the fight happens got decided before what the fight was about.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
📄Business & Contracts
AZ
Two contracts, different terms, same job
🏛️ Arizona · Superior Court · 2023
What happenedA proposal and a later purchase order contained conflicting terms.
🔍 What the court examinedWhich document governed and whether either was accepted.
📌 TakeawayThe order the documents were exchanged in decided the terms.
📐 scope of work🏢 business ↔ business
🛠️Freelance & Work
TX
The deal closed without the broker who brought it
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 1969
What happenedA broker held an exclusive listing. Others were said to have encouraged the owner to close around the broker and skip the commission.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether interference with the arrangement stood as its own claim, separate from the listing agreement itself.
📌 TakeawayInterfering with someone else's deal can be a claim on its own — but punitive damages need more.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🧑🔧 individual ↔ contractor
🛠️Freelance & Work
TX
They locked the contractor out and held the last $20,000
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 1984
What happenedA restaurant build of about $116,000 ran into delay and defect disputes. The owner ended site access and withheld roughly $20,000.
🔍 What the court examinedHow much proof of repair cost is needed before a jury gets to decide.
📌 TakeawayEvidence of what repairs would cost was enough to send it to trial.
🔧 quality of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
🛠️Freelance & Work
TX
A leak in a new house — contract problem, or property damage?
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2014
What happenedWork by a plumbing subcontractor was said to have caused leaks that damaged the house being built.
🔍 What the court examinedHow far the economic-loss rule reaches when the parties also have contracts.
📌 TakeawayHaving a contract does not automatically erase a property-damage claim.
🔧 quality of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
🛠️Freelance & Work
TX
Loose wording nearly took the arbitration clause with it
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2022
What happenedAfter a fatal crash, related companies tried to enforce an arbitration provision in a work agreement the deceased had signed.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the parties ever agreed, and whether the arbitration term was definite enough to enforce.
📌 TakeawayImperfect drafting is not the same as no agreement.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🧑🔧 individual ↔ contractor
🛠️Freelance & Work
AZ
The financing never came through. Was the commission still earned?
🏛️ Arizona · Supreme Court · 1969
What happenedA broker's buyer was subject to obtaining satisfactory financing. Before that happened, the owner disposed of the property another way.
🔍 What the court examinedWhen a commission is earned on a conditional sale under an open listing.
📌 TakeawayA condition that never happened can mean the commission never arrived.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🧑🔧 individual ↔ contractor
🛠️Freelance & Work
TX
He built the deck for a friend. The friend called it a favor.
🏛️ Texas · County Court · 2023
What happenedWork was done without a contract. One side expected payment, the other expected nothing.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the circumstances showed both sides expected the work to be paid for.
📌 TakeawayConduct around the work spoke where no contract existed.
💸 non-payment🗣️ verbal agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🛠️Freelance & Work
TX
Client refused to pay after a fourth round of revisions
🏛️ Texas · Court of Appeals · 2024
What happenedA freelancer said the job was finished. The client said the extra revisions were part of the original scope and withheld final payment.
🔍 What the court examinedThe written scope of work, and the email thread where the client asked for changes after sign-off.
📌 TakeawayThe court examined whether the extra request fell inside the agreed scope.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
🛠️Freelance & Work
TX
Who owns the files when the invoice is unpaid?
🏛️ Texas · Court of Appeals · 2023
What happenedAn agency withheld final deliverables over an outstanding balance.
🔍 What the court examinedWhat the agreement said about ownership and when it transferred.
📌 TakeawayOwnership timing, not leverage, decided it.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
🛠️Freelance & Work
AZ
"Approved" in an email, disputed six months later
🏛️ Arizona · Superior Court · 2025
What happenedA client claimed deliverables were never accepted despite an email saying otherwise.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the email amounted to acceptance under the contract.
📌 TakeawayA single email thread was the acceptance record.
🔧 quality of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
💵Money & Payments
TX
The cashier's check cleared. Then it didn't.
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2022
What happenedA forged cashier's check from an email scam was deposited and the money wired out. The bank later charged the amount back.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the deposit agreement and wire forms created the extra duty the customer said the bank owed.
📌 TakeawayWhich document you signed decides what the bank actually promised.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
💵Money & Payments
TX
Too late to foreclose — so they tried another route
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2023
What happenedAfter the limitations period ran on foreclosing a lien, the lender tried to enforce it through equitable subrogation instead.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the same time limit follows the claim into that alternative remedy.
📌 TakeawayChanging the label on a claim does not restart the clock.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ consumer
💵Money & Payments
AZ
The commission note went unpaid, so they went after the next payments
🏛️ Arizona · Supreme Court · 1962
What happenedA broker took a promissory note for commission on an exchange. When it went unpaid, the broker sued and garnished money the seller was owed under a separate instalment contract.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether future instalments were a fixed debt that could be reached this way.
📌 TakeawayMoney you are owed later can still be reached today, if it is fixed enough.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🧑🔧 individual ↔ contractor
💵Money & Payments
TX
A loan between friends, and no one wrote anything down
🏛️ Texas · County Court · 2024
What happenedOne friend said the money was a loan. The other said it was a gift after years of shared expenses.
🔍 What the court examinedThe wording of the transfer memos and messages sent around the time of the payments.
📌 TakeawayA few words typed into a payment app carried the whole case.
💸 non-payment🗣️ verbal agreement🙋 person ↔ person
💵Money & Payments
AZ
A $30,000 demand arrived nine months after the job ended
🏛️ Arizona · Superior Court · 2025
What happenedA commercial client sent a demand long after the work was accepted and partly paid.
🔍 What the court examinedWhen the alleged breach happened, and whether the claim was brought in time.
📌 TakeawayTiming became the central issue, not the quality of the work.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
💵Money & Payments
TX
"Paid in full" written on a check
🏛️ Texas · County Court · 2023
What happenedA partial payment arrived with a restrictive notation. The recipient cashed it, then demanded the rest.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether cashing the check settled the whole balance.
📌 TakeawayA two-word notation became the central fact.
💸 non-payment🏢 business ↔ business
💵Money & Payments
AZ
The attorney-fee clause cost more than the dispute
🏛️ Arizona · Superior Court · 2024
What happenedA small unpaid balance escalated after both sides invoked a fee-shifting clause.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the prevailing-party clause covered this kind of claim.
📌 TakeawayThe clause changed the economics far more than the amount in dispute.
💸 non-payment📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ business
🛒Consumer & Services
TX
One line on the monthly bill, multiplied by every tenant
🏛️ Texas · Supreme Court · 2023
What happenedAn apartment tenant said the monthly Water/Sewer Base Fee included costs that had nothing to do with water or sewer, and brought it as a class claim.
🔍 What the court examinedHow the Water Code limits what a landlord may pass through, and whether the claim could proceed as a class.
📌 TakeawayA small recurring charge becomes a large question when it repeats across a building.
↩️ refund📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ consumer
🛒Consumer & Services
AZ
Can a new-home contract sign away the basic warranty?
🏛️ Arizona · Supreme Court · 2022
What happenedA new-home contract offered an express warranty in place of the implied warranty of workmanship and habitability.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether that trade is allowed as a matter of Arizona public policy.
📌 TakeawaySome protections cannot be traded away, whatever the contract says.
🔧 quality of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ consumer
🛒Consumer & Services
AZ
New terms appeared. Nobody clicked anything.
🏛️ Arizona · Supreme Court · 2023
What happenedA credit union changed its online terms to add arbitration and a class waiver. The customer never clicked to accept.
🔍 What the court examinedWhat notice and opt-out a company needs before changing an ongoing consumer agreement.
📌 TakeawayA change can stick without a click — but only with real notice and a real way out.
📐 scope of work📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ consumer
🛒Consumer & Services
TX
Used car sold "as is" — then the engine went
🏛️ Texas · Justice Court · 2024
What happenedA private buyer demanded the purchase price back weeks after the sale. The seller pointed to the as-is bill of sale.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether anything the seller said before the sale contradicted the as-is language.
📌 TakeawayWhat was said before signing was examined alongside what was signed.
🔧 quality of work📝 written agreement🙋 person ↔ person
🛒Consumer & Services
TX
A refund demand that arrived before anyone complained
🏛️ Texas · Justice Court · 2025
What happenedA customer demanded a full refund without first raising the problem with the business.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the statute required written notice before filing.
📌 TakeawayPre-suit notice requirements shaped how the case proceeded.
↩️ refund🏢 business ↔ consumer
🛒Consumer & Services
TX
Cancellation fee or penalty? The label didn't decide it.
🏛️ Texas · Court of Appeals · 2024
What happenedA client cancelled and the provider billed the full contract amount.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the charge reflected an actual loss or operated as a penalty.
📌 TakeawayThe court looked at what the number was based on, not what it was called.
🚪 cancellation📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ consumer
🛒Consumer & Services
AZ
A subscription that kept renewing after the cancellation email
🏛️ Arizona · Justice Court · 2024
What happenedA customer cancelled by email; charges continued under the stated cancellation procedure.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the cancellation followed the method the contract required.
📌 TakeawayHow you cancel mattered as much as that you cancelled.
🚪 cancellation📝 written agreement🏢 business ↔ consumer
⭐Online & Reputation
AZ
A neighborhood group post turned into a demand for damages
🏛️ Arizona · Superior Court · 2025
What happenedOne resident demanded another delete a post and pay damages over statements about a shared driveway.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the statements described facts that could be proven true or false.
📌 TakeawayProvable statements and opinions were treated differently.
⭐ online review🙋 person ↔ person
⭐Online & Reputation
AZ
A one-star review turned into a demand letter
🏛️ Arizona · Superior Court · 2024
What happenedA business demanded a customer remove a review and pay damages.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the statements were opinion or verifiable fact.
📌 TakeawayThe line between opinion and stated fact was the whole case.
⭐ online review🏢 business ↔ consumer
⭐Online & Reputation
TX
Screenshots without the full thread
🏛️ Texas · District Court · 2025
What happenedA dispute over messages where each side produced different excerpts.
🔍 What the court examinedWhether the partial exports could be relied on as accurate.
📌 TakeawayHow the messages were preserved mattered as much as what they said.
🔧 quality of work🏢 business ↔ business
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