Classical Vacations, Inc. v. Air France

In Classical Vacations, Inc. v. Air France, No. 01-01-01137-CV (Tex. App.--Houston 1st Dist. Apr. 10, 2003, no pet.), the defendant, a travel agency, contracted with the plaintiff, an airline, to sell plane tickets to passengers. The travel agency had a contractual obligation to report to the airline the tickets that it issued. Id. The airline alleged that the defendant failed to report certain ticket sales. The jury found in favor of the airline and awarded it both actual and exemplary damages. The appellate court reversed the award of exemplary damages, holding that because the airline's claim "sounded solely in contract," the plaintiff was not entitled to an award of exemplary damages. The court recognized the supreme court's holding in Formosa Plastics Corp. v. Presidio Eng'rs & Contractors, Inc., 960 S.W.2d 41, 47 (Tex. 1998), but "declined to extend Formosa Plastics to include fraud that occurs after the formation of a contract and that results only in loss to the subject of a contract." Id. The court added that the airline "did not plead and the jury did not find fraudulent inducement." Id.