Trammel Crow Company No. 60, Petitioners v. William Jefferson Harkinson and Jeff Harkinson Investments…

Summary

The Texas Supreme Court held that a broker's tortious interference and civil conspiracy claims are barred by §20(b) of the Texas Real Estate License Act when the broker lacks a signed written commission agreement, reversing the Court of Appeals on those claims. The Court distinguished Clements v. Withers as limited to cases with a signed but defective writing and rejected promissory estoppel as an exception to §20(b). Justice Gonzalez, in a partial concurrence/dissent, argued that the majority wrongly extended §20(b) to third‑party defendants.