Following a trial on breach-of-fiduciary-duty and breach-of-contract claims against an escrow agent, the jury awarded Tom Brown Contracting, Inc. “TBC” the deposit TBC had entrusted to the escrow agent when TBC ordered certain flooring that was later never received. Finding no evidence supported either claim, the trial court entered a directed verdict against TBC and in favor of the escrow agent on both claims, which TBC now appeals. We reverse, holding that some evidence supported both claims. “In considering a ruling on a motion for a directed verdict, the evidence must be construed most favorably to the party opposing the motion.” Crosby v. Kendall .1 A court may grant a directed verdict “only when no conflict exists in the evidence and the evidence presented, with all reasonable inferences therefrom, demands a particular verdict.” Punctuation omitted. Bienert v. Dickerson .2 Thus, on appeal of a grant of a directed verdict, we apply the “any evidence” standard, which requires that we reverse if some evidence supported a jury verdict in favor of the nonmovant. Id.
Construed in favor of the verdict, the evidence shows that in May 2003, a flooring supplier entered into a written “Escrow Agreement” with Fishman & Company an accounting firm, pursuant to which the supplier’s customers would pay monies owed to the supplier directly to Fishman & Company as an escrow agent, who in turn would use the escrowed money to pay business-related debts of the supplier. The parties orally modified this agreement, which had no merger clause nor any restrictions on modifications, to provide that Fishman & Company would also receive deposits from customers on pending orders, which deposits it would hold in escrow until it had received confirmation that the promised goods had been shipped. Only after it received this confirmation could Fishman & Company then use the deposit to pay debts of the supplier; otherwise, it held the funds for the benefit of the customer. Fishman & Company was aware that the supplier publicized this arrangement so as to persuade customers to forward deposits to Fishman & Company.
