Robert J. Bykowicz v. Pulte Home Corporation

BARKSDALE, Circuit Judge:

At issue in this Texas diversity action is whether escrow account property tax estimates prepared and used by Pulte (based on charts prepared by ICM) in housing sales constitute a “false representation of a past or existing material fact ... made ... for the purpose of inducing” persons to purchase from Pulte, using mortgages from its subsidiary, ICM, in violation of Tex.Bus. & Com.Code Ann. § 27.01 (Vernon 1987); and whether ICM’s actions also constitute gross negligence. A jury found that they did; we REVERSE and RENDER.

I

Six married couples (plaintiffs) bought new…