Bell Nunnally Senior Associate J. Reid Burley represented a financial services company in a case wherein the client sued a corporate borrower and individual guarantor for breach of loan agreements, breach of security agreements and breach of promissory notes. The borrower and guarantor executed the loan documents in 2017 but argued in court that they never signed the documents and that the documents must have been a forgery. Bell Nunnally had to retain a handwriting expert to refuse the defendants’ testimony and the opposing handwriting expert. Additionally, Bell Nunnally was ultimately able to impeach the defendants with a prior Instagram post about signatures on certain key documents.
Following a one-day trial to the bench, Bell Nunnally prevailed on all causes of actions for its client and received a judgment in the full amount requested, equal to more than $130,000.00. Bell Nunnally Senior Associate Reid Burley had this to say about the victory, “We are very pleased with the outcome of this trial. We knew from the outset that the defendants were not being truthful about the signatures. But it was especially pleasing to present our client’s case as a narrative that the Court found to be truthful. Commercial litigators don’t get many Perry Mason moments, so using someone’s Instagram post about a corporate loan agreement to destroy their credibility is a moment I won’t soon forget.”