Business owners assumed ownership of property without consummating transaction, court papers say

GALVESTON - Local resident Gildario Salinas Lopez resorted to legal action in an effort to retrieve his property in La Marque from two business owners.

Recent court documents filed Sept. 6 in Galveston County Court at Law No. 1 claim Robert Durst, Benny Risner and their business, Insurance Collision Centers of Houston Inc., did not pay Lopez a cent while a transaction between them was not consummated.

Lopez owned and operated an automotive repair business under the name "Ultimate Collision" on the disputed property.

Last April, he and the defendants negotiated an agreement for the latter to buy said property for $450,000.

At the same time, the respondents inked a promissory note in which the $450,000 is to be paid through monthly installments in the amount of $4,044.73.

The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff tried to consummate the deal to no avail as the defendants "continued to occupy, use and enjoy the property, and to operate the 'Ultimate Collision business, all to their profit, and as if they already owned it."

The defendants did not pay the plaintiff anything for their use of the property and their operation of the plaintiff's business, the original petition says.

It adds the respondents have failed and refused to perform the terms of the promissory note nor vacate the subject property.

Attorney Thomas W. McQuage of Galveston is representing Lopez, and Galveston County Court-at-Law No. 1 Judge John Grady is presiding over the litigation.

Cause No. 70,669