Tanner Development Company v. Robert B. Ferguson

This is a suit seeking to recover the statutory penalties on a contract alleged to be usurious. Respondents, Robert B. Ferguson and Twelve Ferguson Ltd., a partnership, hereinafter referred to as Ferguson, brought suit against Tanner Development Company, a joint venture, asserting that a promissory note given by Ferguson to Tanner as partial consideration for the conveyance of ten acres of land in Harris County was usurious. Ferguson sought recovery of usury penalties, interest and attorneys fees in excess of $290,000, and prayed for an injunction prohibiting a trustees sale of the property. Tanner filed a counterclaim in which it sought judgment declaring that the note was in default; that a valid lien pursuant to a deed of trust executed by Ferguson existed on the property; and that the lien be foreclosed and the property be sold.