Dallas Business Lawyer Blog

Hotel Owner Sues State Bank of Texas

 

After the Georgia bank he borrowed from failed, Mukesh “Mike” Patel saw a good opportunity to buy the biggest chunk of the $10 million mortgage on a Red Roof Inn hotel he owns.

In a nutshell, he figured that his business could purchase 49% of the remaining note on the hotel for $2.4 million. At the time, Patel’s company owed about $8.9 million on the mortgage for the hotel located near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.

So Patel, co-founder of a Georgia-based real estate and hotel development and management firm called the Diplomat Cos., approached State Bank of Texas, an Irving bank that specializes in hotel lending, to line up financing to buy the loan.

Ultimately, State Bank of Texas turned him down for the loan, and Diplomat lined up other financing. But its $2.4 million bid failed.  The State Bank of Texas ultimately bought the mortage by offering $20,000 more than Diplomat. 

Minyard Wins Suit in Breach of Fiduciary Duty Against Ex-CEO

 

Former Minyard Food Stores chief executive Ronald E. Johnson lost a legal battle with the Coppell-based grocery chain.

Johnson has been ordered by a Dallas court to pay $2.3 million to Minyard and its Fort Worth-based owner, investment firm Renegade Swish LLC, after a jury found he committed fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract.

Johnson was fired from Minyard in June 2006 for violating the company's code of business ethics by soliciting vendors for hard-to-get Mavericks playoff tickets.

He sued Minyard for failure to pay $600,000 in severance he said he was owed under his employment contract.

Minyard countersued, claiming that in his 18-month tenure, Johnson "lined his own pockets," "was caught with his hand in the cookie jar" and "feathered his own nest" by hiring "cronies."

During discovery, Minyard's lawyers found additional violations of the grocer's ethics policies and said that he received more than $700,000 from Minyard's vendors while acting as CEO.

The jury awarded $1.3 million in exemplary damages and $1 million in actual damages. Johnson said he plans to appeal.