The is the second appeal of this case, which arose out of a dispute between the parties over an agreement to sell certain carpet-making technology for $3 million. In the first appeal, we affirmed the trial court’s decision that the plaintiff, Thermo-Flex Technologies, Inc., was entitled to $500,000 in damages as a matter of law, based upon the defendant Textile Rubber and Chemical Company, Inc.’s failure to make an installment payment, but remanded the case for a jury to decide additional damage claims. Textile Rubber and Chemical Co. v. Thermo-Flex Technologies , 301 Ga. App. 491 687 SE2d 919 2009. On remand, Thermo-Flex moved for summary judgment against Textile on its claim for statutory attorney fees based on the $500,000 damages awarded. The trial court granted the motion. The third-party defendants, Larry Mullinax and Technology Works, Inc., also moved for summary judgment on the cross-claims brought against them by Textile, and the trial court likewise granted their motion. Textile now appeals these summary judgment rulings made by the trial court on remand. For the following reasons, we affirm the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to Thermo-Flex on its attorney fees claim and to the third-party defendants on Textile’s cross-claims for tortious interference with contract, breach of warranty, and indemnity. We reverse the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the third-party defendants on Textile’s cross-claims for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and breach of duty of principal. When reviewing the grant . . . of a motion for summary judgment, this Court conducts a de novo review of the law and the evidence. To prevail at summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law. Footnotes omitted. Smith v. Gordon , 266 Ga. App. 814 1 598 SE2d 92 2004. See OCGA § 9-11-56 c. So viewed, the record showed that at all times relevant to this dispute, Larry Mullinax was the president and owner of 50 percent of the outstanding shares of Thermo-Flex Technologies, Inc., which was in the business of developing a thermoplastic recyclable backing system for carpets. Mullinax also was the president, chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and owner of Technology Works, Inc., a consulting firm in the area of thermoplastic technology.
Due to his expertise in the area, Textile Rubber and Chemical Company, Inc. hired Mullinax to serve as its consultant in the application of thermoplastic technologies in the flooring industry. Mullinax had previously been an employee of Textile and had a longstanding relationship with its founder. Textile paid Mullinax $100,000 a year for his role as a consultant. Mullinax informed Textile that his other company, Thermo-Flex, had developed a thermoplastic recyclable backing system that was ready to go to market and proposed a partnership between the two companies. Mullinax repeatedly advised Textile that the technology developed by Thermo-Flex did not produce a significant amount of “volatile organic compounds” “VOCs”, which would raise environmental concerns and would be an important issue to potential customers. Textile chose not to perform its own independent testing of Thermo-Flex’s technology for VOCs after Mullinax advised that such testing was unnecessary and would be “a waste of money.”
