Ross

I. INTRODUCTION

This case pertains to disputes between Gregory Stranger and Elizabeth Ross regarding their partnership in a commercial real estate defeasance business.1 A jury determined that Stranger is liable to Ross for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty and fraud. Ross was awarded $969,849.73 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages. On appeal, Stranger contends (1) the trial court committed prejudicial error by admitting evidence that he was convicted of a crime in 1995; (2) he is not personally liable to Ross on any of her contract claims; (3) there was insufficient evidence of a

1 A defeasance is “generally defined as a clause in a deed, lease, or other written instrument the legal effect of which is to defeat, cancel, or annul the instrument in whole or in part and thus wholly or partly to release the parties from obligations arising under it upon the happening or not happening of a condition subsequent.” (Ballentine‟s Law Dictionary (3rd ed. 2010).) In a commercial real estate defeasance transaction, the holder of a loan on commercial real estate substitutes a portfolio of bonds as collateral for the loan and then uses cash flow from the…