Justia Commercial Law Opinion Summaries

Sam’s Club is a members-only retail warehouse that features a section for clearance items, called “as-is” items. Items may be designated “as-is” for various reasons and may be damaged or undamaged. Every as-is item is marked with an orange sticker; when a cashier scans the item, the original price appears and the cashier must perform a manual override. The software records the fact that a price override was performed, but does not include the reason. Overrides can occur for reasons other than “as-is” designation. Sam’s contracted with NEW to sell extended warranties for items sold in the store. NEW will not cover some “as is” products, including some purchased by Hayes. On each occasion, Sam’s employees offered and Hayes purchased a NEW warranty. The store provided Hayes with a manual and remote missing from a television he purchased and offered to refund the warranty price. Hayes declined. Hayes sued, on behalf of himself and all other persons who purchased a warranty for an as-is product from Clubs in New Jersey since 2004, asserting violation of the state Consumer Fraud Act, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment. The trial court certified a Rule 23(b)(3) class. The Third Circuit vacated and remanded for consideration of Rule 23’s class definition, ascertainability, and numerosity requirements in light of a recent decision. View "Hayes v. WalMart Stores Inc" on Justia Law

The Halims own named WR Property Management. The company’s predecessor had contracted to buy natural gas from CES for the Halims’s 41 Chicago-area rental properties. CES delivered, but the company stopped paying and owed about $1.2 million when CES cut off service and filed suit. An Illinois court awarded $1.7 million, including interest and attorney fees. The company did not pay; the Halims had transferred all of its assets to WR. CES filed a diversity suit under the Illinois Fraudulent Transfer Act. The district court granted CES summary judgment and entered a final judgment for $2.7 million on fraudulent‐conveyance and successor‐liability claims. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, stating: “If the Halims are wise, they will start heeding the adage: if you’re in a hole, stop digging.” View "Centerpoint Energy Servs., Inc. v. WR Prop. Mgmt., LLC" on Justia Law

The Court of International Trade rejected the Department of Commerce’s interpretation of an antidumping order, imposed under 19 U.S.C. 1673a(b), on nails from the People’s Republic of China. The Trade Court held that nails included in certain household tool kits imported by Target were subject to the order. The Federal Circuit vacated, noting that whether a “mixed media” item (a tool kit) is subject to an antidumping order that covers included merchandise is not addressed in the regulations. Commerce has historically treated the answer as depending on whether the mixed media item is to be treated as a single, unitary item, or a mere aggregation of separate items. Remand is necessary for Commerce to revisit its mixed media determination in light of a statutory requirement that any implicit mixed media exception to the literal scope of the order be based on preexisting public sources. Problems presented by this case could be avoided if Commerce identified, in its antidumping orders or in prospective regulations, factors that it will consider in resolving mixed media and other cases.View "Mid Cont't Nail Corp v. United States" on Justia Law

Crewzers was awarded blanket purchase agreements (BPAs) with the Forest Service to provide buses that transport fire crews to wildfires and other disaster areas in regional and national wilderness zones and to provide flame retardant tents to disaster areas. Both BPAs established dispatch priority lists within geographic zones. When an emergency arose, the Service would to submit an order for the highest-ranked (lowest-priced) resource available on the priority. BPAs are frameworks for future contracts and state that “If a Contractor cannot be reached or is not able to meet the time and date needed, the dispatcher may proceed with contacting the next resource on the dispatch priority list.” The Service has discretion to deviate from priority lists as needed and did not make any guarantee that it would actually place orders under the BPAs. The BPAs required Crewzers to accept orders only if “willing and able.” The Service terminated the Crewzers BPA for buses after Crewzers allegedly responded with unauthorized vehicles and attempted to bill at a higher-than-authorized rate and later terminated its BPA for tents after Crewzers allegedly provided tents that did not meet specifications or failed to deliver on time. Crewzers sought a declaratory judgment that it was entitled to damages or to reinstatement of the BPAs. The Claims Court dismissed. The Federal Circuit affirmed, finding that the BPAs were not binding contracts for purposes of invoking Tucker Act (28 U.S.C. 1491(a)) jurisdiction. View "Crewzers Fire Crew Transp., Inc. v. United States" on Justia Law

LSI imported beef jerky products consisting of sliced, cooked, cured, and dried meat seasoned with salt and other spices and flavors from New Zealand and Brazil. The manufacturing process for the imported jerky involves curing the sliced boneless beef in a mixture of seasoning, sodium nitrate, and water for 24 to 48 hours, after which the meat is cooked and smoked for several hours. In airtight bags, the product has a shelf life of 18–20 months. U.S. Customs and Border Protection classified the subject beef jerky under Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTSUS) subheading 1602.50.09 as “cured” prepared or preserved beef and denied LSI’s protests to classify it under subheading 1602.50.2040 as “other” prepared or preserved beef. LSI filed suit in the Court of International Trade, which granted the government summary judgment. The court considered LSI’s arguments that beef jerky is defined more by its dehydrated properties than by the curing process, but found that subheading 1602.50.09 included all forms of the named article, even improved forms. The Federal Circuit affirmed. View "Link Snacks, Inc. v. United States" on Justia Law

Appellant Farmers National Bank (FNB) appealed the district court's grant of declaratory judgment in favor of Green River Dairy, LLC, and four commodities dealers: Ernest Carter, Lewis Becker, Jack McCall, and Hull Farms (Sellers). FNB argued the district court misinterpreted I.C. 45-1802 (a statutory lien provision) and as a result, erred in granting Sellers a priority lien on collateral securing a loan previously made by FNB. Upon review, the Supreme Court agreed with FNB about the misinterpretation and vacated the district court's grant of declaratory judgment in favor of the Sellers. View "Farmers Nat'l Bank v. Green River Dairy" on Justia Law

Bank loaned money to Debtor to purchase a vehicle. The loan was secured by a security interest in the vehicle that was recorded in the Kansas Department of Revenue’s (KDOR) digital records and noted on an electronic certificate of title issued in Debtor’s name. Debtor later defaulted on its loan. That same year, Debtor’s former employer (Company) obtained a money judgment against Debtor in an unrelated action and obtained a court order authorizing the attachment of the vehicle. Purchaser, the sole owner of Company, subsequently purchased the vehicle at auction. Thereafter, Bank filed suit against Company and Purchaser (collectively, Defendants), seeking, among other things, a declaratory judgment that its perfected purchase money security interest was superior to any interests held by Defendants. The district court granted summary judgment for Bank and awarded Bank the proceeds of the sale of the vehicle. The court of appeals affirmed in relevant part. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the court of appeals correctly considered and applied perfection and priority rules under the Uniform Commercial Code to conclude that Purchaser did not take free and clear of Bank’s security interest. View "Stanley Bank v. Parish" on Justia Law

After receiving petitions from the Coalition, the U.S. Department of Commerce initiated antidumping (19 U.S.C. 1673) and countervailing duty (19 U.S.C. 1671) investigations covering utility scale wind towers from China and an antidumping investigation covering Vietnam. The U.S. International Trade Commission issued a preliminary determination that there was a reasonable indication of threat of material injury to a domestic industry by reason of the imports. Commerce issued a preliminary affirmative countervailing duty determination with respect to imports from China and preliminary affirmative antidumping duty determinations with respect to imports from China and Vietnam. Commerce instructed Customs and Border Protection to suspend liquidation of all entries of the subject merchandise and require cash deposits for the entries. Commerce then made final affirmative determinations. ITC issued a final affirmative determination in an evenly-divided vote, but of the six Commissioners on the panel, three found neither material injury nor threat of injury, two determined that the industry had suffered present material injury, and a third determined that the domestic industry was threatened with material injury, but that the domestic industry would not have suffered material injury in the absence of the provisional measures. Commerce then issued antidumping and countervailing duty orders. Commerce applied the “Special Rule,” 19 U.S.C. 1671e(b)(2) and 1673e(b)(2), making the orders effective prospectively from the publication of the ITC Determination. The orders indicated that Commerce would instruct Customs to terminate the suspension of liquidation and refund deposits made before the publication date of the ITC Determination. The Court of International Trade denied the Coalition’s motions for injunctions. The Federal Circuit affirmed. View "Wind Tower Trade Coal. v. United States" on Justia Law

New Energy operated a South Bend ethanol plant. In bankruptcy, it proposed to sell assets by auction, which was held in 2013. A joint venture, New Energy, submitted the winning bid of $2.5 million. New Energy, the trustee, and the Department of Energy, the largest creditor, asked the bankruptcy court to confirm this result. Natural Chem, which had not participated in the auction, opposed confirmation, arguing that establishment of the joint venture amounted to collusion. The Bankruptcy Court confirmed the sale. Natural Chem did not seek a stay and the sale closed. A district judge affirmed, observing that after the closing only a protest by the trustee permits a sale to be undone on grounds that “the sale price was controlled by an agreement among potential bidders,” 11 U.S.C.363(n). The Seventh Circuit affirmed, concluding that Natural Chem did not suffer an injury and that, under section 363, any injury would not be redressable. Collusion is a form of monopsony that depresses the price realized at auctions and would have made it easier for Natural Chem to secure the property. A reduction in the bid would have harmed New Energy’s creditors, not Natural Chem, which is why the trustee rather than a bidder is the right party to protest collusive sales. View "In re: New Energy Corp." on Justia Law

Contractors Cargo, engaged in heavy-haul operations, commissioned Empire Bucket to fabricate a steel deck to be used with Cargo’s specialized rail freight car for transporting oversized loads. A third party designed the deck, specifying that the deck be fabricated from T-1 high-strength steel and that welding be performed to American Welding Society specifications. The deck was designed to transport up to 800,000 pounds. Empire fabricated the deck, which passed inspection by an outside agency and all nondestructive tests, and delivered it. Cargo connected the deck to its railcar and loaded it to 820,000 pounds. The next morning, an employee observed that the deck had dropped about three inches. Cargo attempted to raise it with a hydraulic jacking system, but the deck fractured. Cargo hired a metallurgical engineer, who determined that a portion of the weld was composed of material with properties different from the properties of the material in the rest of the weld where the crack originated. Cargo refused to pay the full purchase price. Empire sued and Cargo filed counterclaims. The district court granted Empire’s motion in limine to exclude testimony concerning one test performed on the deck after it failed. The jury returned a verdict for Empire. The Seventh Circuit affirmed, stating that, given testimony admitted at trial, the excluded evidence would have added little to the implied warranty claims. View "Empire Bucket, Inc. v. Contractors Cargo Co." on Justia Law