Justia Contracts Opinion Summaries

LimoLiner Inc. contracted with Dattco, Inc. to repair a luxury motor coach that LimoLiner owned. LimoLiner later filed this action in Massachusetts state court alleging breach of contract, misrepresentation, negligence, replevin, and violation of 940 C.M.R. 5.05, a Massachusetts regulation. Dattco removed the case to federal district court. The magistrate judge found that Dattco breached the repair contract by failing to do all of the work that LimoLiner had requested. The judge also ruled for Dattco on all of LimoLiner’s other claims, awarding LimoLiner a total of $25,123 in damages. LimoLiner appealed, arguing, among other things, that the magistrate judge erred in ruling that Dattco may not be held liable under 940 C.M.R. 5.05 for certain actions and omissions that occurred on the job. The First Circuit certified a question concerning 940 C.M.R.’s intended scope to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and thus did not decide the merits of LimoLiner’s regulatory claims. The Court otherwise affirmed, holding that the magistrate judge did not err in concluding that Dattco did not breach the parties’ oral contract to make the repairs in a timely manner and owed damages only for the loss of use of the vehicle for one limited period of time. View "Limoliner, Inc. v. Dattco, Inc." on Justia Law

These interlocutory appeals were from a district court order that, inter alia, compelled a law firm (Mintz Levin) to produce documents relating to a fraud allegedly committed by David Gorski in his operation of Legion Construction, Inc. in order to qualify for and obtain government contracts. Gorski and Legion appealed the portion of the order that required attorney-client privileged documents connected with Mintz Levin’s representation of Legion to be produced under the crime-fraud exception. The government cross-appealed the portion of the district court decision to exclude communications between Gorski and his personal attorney from the production order. The First Circuit (1) dismissed Gorski’s appeal for want of appellate jurisdiction, holding that the Court did not have jurisdiction over Gorski’s appeal but did have jurisdiction over Legion’s appeal and the government’s cross-appeal; (2) affirmed the production order as to Mintz Levin, holding that a prima facie case for the crime-fraud exception had been made; and (3) vacated the district court’s decision to exclude Gorski’s communications with his personal attorney from the production order, holding that the district court employed incorrect legal reasoning with regard to these documents. View "United States v. Gorski" on Justia Law

Mark Galvin was the guarantor of a defaulted promissory note on a loan secured by an interest in a Cessna 421C aircraft. The note and security agreement were assigned to Harley-Davidson Credit Corp. After the borrower defaulted on the note, Harley-Davidson repossessed and sold the aircraft through a third-party dealer for $155,000 and then sought to collect $108,681 from Galvin. Galvin did not pay. Harley-Davidson subsequently filed a breach of contract action against Galvin to collect the deficiency. The district court entered partial summary judgment in favor of Harley-Davidson, concluding that there was no dispute of material fact that the sale was “commercially reasonable.” The First Circuit reversed, holding that a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the sale was “commercially reasonable,” and therefore, summary judgment should have been denied. Remanded. View "Harley-Davidson Credit Corp. v. Galvin" on Justia Law