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Hobson Air of Weatherford — criticized by some customers, blasted by a municipal judge for running a "well-orchestrated scam," rated F by the Better Business Bureau and investigated by state regulators — had an excellent day recently at the Tarrant County Courthouse.
Hobson Air, also doing business as Comfort Experts, won a lawsuit Oct. 29 filed by an 84-year-old Fort Worth widow who claimed that Hobson installed a smaller air-conditioning system than her house required.Doris Middleton testified that for three years, her bedroom has not properly cooled and she has had to use an electric fan."It’s been miserable," she said.Hobson, in turn, sued Middleton for breach of contract because she didn’t pay the $10,000 she owed the company for the equipment.Brian Hobson, son of the founder, Philip Hobson, testified that the company tried to return to the house after two earlier attempts at repairs but that Middleton wouldn’t allow it. She testified that she didn’t trust the company.Both parties had agreed in mediation to resolve the problem, but Middleton pulled out when she couldn’t get financing for a replacement unit.After a two-day trial, the jury decided that Middleton should pay Hobson $10,000. Meanwhile, all her claims against the company for deceptive trade practices were denied.It was a big victory for a company badly in need of one. This year, Tarrant County Precinct 5 Justice of the Peace Manuel T. Valdez said Hobson had engaged in "a well-orchestrated scam" involving another customer who won a case in small-claims court.Richard Livingston, a juror in the Middleton case, told The Watchdog that Hobson won because Middleton’s claims against the company were outweighed by her refusal to pay."In this case, one would think that Mrs. Middleton was the damaged party," Livingston said. "But when all the facts came out in court, we all went to deliberations, and the thing that we decided was Mrs. Middleton breached the contract."How so?"Because she didn’t pay for the air conditioner, we felt that she really had no remedy to any damages because she hadn’t fulfilled that part of the obligation. . . . She never paid the $10,000. If she had paid the $10,000, we might have a very, very different view of the outcome."Hobson attorney Charlie Burgess of Fort Worth said that was the focus of his courtroom strategy. He drew a big zero on a board for the jury representing what Middleton had paid. "There’s nothing that will get around this zero here," he told jurors.Later, he said: "There’s a sense of entitlement that people are having. But when you get asked directly, 'Should you get something that you don’t pay for?’ — the average Texan is going to say no."Middleton had testified that "they aren’t working, so I don’t feel like I owe them anything."It began in summer 2006 when the air-conditioning system at her home, in the shadow of TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium, broke. The Hobson repairman told her the entire system needed to be replaced. He never wrote an invoice, as the law requires, and she never asked for one.
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