Lesson 6
Can a builder shut down a business after I am having problems with them, and a new entity, run by the sons of the original owner start up with a slightly different name?
In theory they should not, but this is a very confusing issue in our particular case. I will give you the facts, and you can decide for yourself.
We filed our lawsuit against Brint Construction in 2019.
It appears that the sons, Clint and Brian Byrom, started a new business call Brint Land Development LLC, and filed the new business name with the Texas Secretary of State on December 9 2021. The picture below was captured from the Texas SOS webpage.
They also may have started another company called Brint Inc. (Confusing?)
It is also a fact that my builder, Brint Construction INC, told us they would file for bankruptcy. In a letter dated December 28, 2022, their attorney said in part “Because of the pending litigation, I recommended to Mr. Tim Byrom that he consider the filing of a bankruptcy case to bring the lawsuits to a close, and he retained Gabe Perez of Galveston for this purpose”.
Their attorney has sent me several emails, that in my opinion say different things, so I cannot in good faith, tell you if I am suspicious or not.
In April of 2023, I received an email from their attorney that read in part “Brint Construction, Inc. which built your house, is a corporation wholly owned by Tim Byrom and his wife. As I pointed out to your attorney, the decision to close down Brint Construction, Inc. was made in 2018, so that Tim Byrom could retire, and your claim had nothing to do with it.”
It is interesting if they decided to shut down the business in 2018. It was in January 2018 that Tim Byrom sent me an email that read in part “I will no longer send anyone to work on your house. Whatever issues you have with your house, you will have to deal with them without any assistance from Brint Construction”.
Remember that this 2018 email from Tim Byrom was after 13 months of construction and then 11 additional months of numerous but failed leak repair attempts. Did Tim Byrom’s frustration with his inability to repair our leaks drive him to shut down Brint Construction?
I know Tim Byrom was trying to retire, but why did the sons not keep the same business name with a 30+ year history and a good reputation? Would that not have been a more normal transition?
We sold an LLC a few years ago. It was a simple process to change owners and members. When we did that, our LLC, the DBA, the Trademark, the website name, the bank account, the assets, and the liabilities, all transferred to the new owner, lock, stock, and barrel. That’s how we did it. The Byrom family had their own reasons to do it the way they did.
SO, the question remains, can a contractor just shut down a business and then his sons continue a similar family enterprise under a slightly different name? The answer is far too complicated for me to offer an opinion.
Be Aware: There are several businesses registered in Texas with Brint in the name. I am ONLY talking about the ones associated with Brian Byrom. In my opinion, you should be VERY CAUTIOUS of any business associated with Brian Byrom.
TIP TO AVOID THIS: Have a very good attorney on your team.