Richard T. Brock sold land to developer D. Kimbrough King for inclusion in a subdivision that King was building. After development began, Brock sued King and three companies with which he was affiliated, alleging that the defendants had committed fraud and breach of contract by failing to honor contractual limitations on development that were designed to protect Brock’s privacy. The trial court directed a verdict for the defendants on the fraud claim, and a jury found in their favor on the contract claim and awarded them attorney fees and litigation expenses. Brock appeals, asserting that the court erred by 1 denying his motion for directed verdict on the contract claim, 2 directing a verdict for the defendants on the fraud claim, and 3 failing to give his requested jury instruction on nominal contract damages. We uphold the court’s directed verdict rulings, but its failure to give the requested nominal damages charge was error. We therefore affirm in part and reverse in part. The record shows that Brock owned a home and eight acres of land in Atlanta. In 1997, he decided to sell three of the acres. King approached Brock seeking support for his plans to build a subdivision on 11 acres that he had bought adjacent to Brock’s. In December 1997, after negotiations and meetings, Brock signed a contract with Five Kings, Inc., a corporation with which King was affiliated. In the contract, Brock agreed to sell Five Kings three of his acres for inclusion in the subdivision and to support King’s efforts to obtain favorable rezoning from the city. Five Kings agreed to certain restrictions on development, including maintaining densely landscaped buffers between Brock’s home and the new homes, designing and implementing additional landscaping, limiting the size of the new homes, and repairing any construction-related damage to a lake behind Brock’s house.
The contract referred to and incorporated an attached site plan that had been prepared by Five Kings’ architect and that depicted the buffers and homes to be built on adjacent lots. The contract also provided that its restrictions on development would survive closing, and that the agreement could be amended only by a signed writing. Finally, the contract stated that the prevailing party in any litigation to enforce contractual rights and obligations would be entitled to recover actual attorney fees and expenses.
