Nash-Finch Co. v. Casey's Foods, Inc. ( 2019 )

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION
File Name: 19a0054n.06
No. 17-5975
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT
FILED
NASH-FINCH CO.; SUPER FOOD SERVICES, ) December 20, 2018
INC., ) DEBORAH S. HUNT, Clerk
)
Plaintiffs-Appellees, )
)
ON APPEAL FROM THE
v. )
UNITED STATES DISTRICT
)
COURT FOR THE
CASEY’S FOODS, INC.; KCR LTD., INC.; C&S )
EASTERN DISTRICT OF
FOODS, INC.; MANCHESTER, INC.; CDM FOODS, )
KENTUCKY
INC.; J&L COX, LLC; JIMMY R. COX; LISA C. )
COX, )
)
Defendants-Appellants. )
REDACTED OPINION*
BEFORE: DAUGHTREY, GIBBONS, and WHITE, Circuit Judges.
HELENE N. WHITE, Circuit Judge. In this breach-of-contract diversity action,
Defendants-Appellants appeal the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Plaintiffs-
Appellees Nash-Finch Co., and Super Food Services, Inc., and the dismissal of their counter-
claims. We AFFIRM.
Nash-Finch Co., and its wholly-owned subsidiary Super Food Services, Inc. (collectively,
Nash-Finch), distribute wholesale groceries and supplies to independent grocery stores; the six
corporate Appellants are affiliated businesses that own and operate thirteen IGA grocery stores in
*
This decision was originally filed under seal on December 20, 2018. On January 30, 2019, the court
unsealed the opinion with redactions made pursuant to Appellees’ unopposed motion. The date the opinion
is deemed to have been filed remains December 20, 2018.
No. 17-5975, Nash-Finch Co. et al. v. Casey’s Foods, Inc., et al. – REDACTED OPINION
eastern Kentucky. The parties entered into a ten-year Retail Sales and Service Agreement (RSSA)
effective February 27, 2008, under which Nash-Finch agreed to supply Appellants’ grocery stores,
and Appellants agreed, among other things, to purchase of their annual retail sales
volume from Nash-Finch.
RSSA’s REBATEABLE LOAN ARRANGEMENT
Two programs are pertinent to this dispute. The first is the rebateable loan arrangement
outlined in the RSSA. Pursuant to the RSSA, Nash-Finch extended loans to several Appellants1:
a ten-year term loan , and a five-year term loan .
Three prior loans, referred to as the “3 Original Notes,” were also part of the RSSA. Two of these
three loans were “rebateable,” that is, Appellants could pay them off through a rebate
, provided Appellants met purchase requirement. If Appellants purchased of
their inventory from Nash-Finch, the rebate would decrease. In the event the RSSA was
terminated, Appellants were required to immediately pay Nash-Finch any outstanding loan
amounts as well as liquidated damages.
When Appellants terminated the RSSA on February 27, 2015, their outstanding loan
balance was ; Appellants paid Nash-Finch , but withheld assuming they had
earned that amount as a rebate. Nash-Finch maintains Appellants were entitled only to a
rebate because their purchase level was and that Appellants owe liquidated damages for
wrongly terminating the RSSA.
1
Nash-Finch refers to the corporate Appellants as the “Cox Appellants,” and the district court referred to
them as the “Cox Defendants.” Individual Appellants Jimmy and Lisa Cox, and corporate Appellants
Casey’s Foods, J&L Cox, and C&S Foods, are the guarantors of the loans.
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EVERY DAY VALUE (EDV) TOTAL MERCHANDISING PROGRAM
The second program pertinent to this dispute is a total merchandising program Nash-Finch
implemented in 2009. Under the RSSA, Nash-Finch agreed to “have services and programs
available to” Appellants and other grocers, “subject to applicable charges and the right of Super
Food to make changes at any time as to their cost, nature and availability.” (R. 43-2, PID 220.)
The RSSA provides a list of such services and programs, including a “Total Merchandising
Program.” Partly in response to Appellants’ and other grocers’ requests to be more competitive
with super stores like WalMart, Nash-Finch developed a total merchandising program in 2008, the
“Every Day Value Program” or “EDV,” .2
. Nash-Finch employee James Gohsman, who oversaw Appellants’
accounts, testified that “[i]n the Nash platform, we called it EDV . . . . [In other geographic areas]
it’s called Price Freeze and Wall of Value, so it’s the same deal, it’s just called something
different.” (R. 100-2, PID 631.) The EDV program is not discussed in the RSSA.
In June 2009, Nash-Finch met with independent retailers including Martin Cox,3 President
of Appellant KCR Ltd., to discuss implementing EDV. .
In mid-2009, Nash-Finch implemented EDV. As part of the program, Nash-Finch
.
2
.
3
Cox signed the RSSA, terminated the RSSA in February 2015, and served as the Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 30(b)(6) designee for the Corporate Appellants.
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Prior to implementing EDV, Nash-Finch .
Under EDV, Nash-Finch .
According to Nash-Finch, as designed
.
By letter to Nash-Finch dated February 27, 2015, Cox advised that as of March 4, 2015,
Appellants were switching suppliers, that is, ending their participation in the RSSA:
As you know, I have been reviewing the financial condition of our stores. I have
given notice to several different members of your management team outlining the
financial damages to the Cox Food Group directly relating to decisions made by
[Nash-Finch], those decisions have made it financially impossible for us to continue
our relationship.
On March 3, 2015 Cox Foods will initiate a wire to [Nash-Finch] in the amount of
for the remaining portions of the unearned or unpaid amounts of our
agreements as follows:
•
•
•
As many of you are aware, I began discussing these decisions with different
individuals from your company back in March 2014 . . .
[] In January of 2011, Nash Finch’s prior CEO (Alec Covington)
.
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The decisions to institute the following programs introduced by Nash Finch
:
•
.
....
This has not been an easy decision; but if we don’t make a change, I know our
stores are not financially viable. As of March 4, 2015 we will be switching
suppliers. All other open Account Payables will be paid to Nash Finch on their
existing schedule.
Over the years, we have honored our commitments with Nash Finch. I believe our
offer to repay any monies that were advanced to us, and our open accounts, is a fair
way to resolve our differences and end our relationship.
(R. 100-4, PID 657.)
THE INSTANT ACTION
Believing that Cox wrongfully terminated the RSSA three years early, Nash-Finch filed
this breach-of-contract action, seeking liquidated damages and the balance it claimed Appellants
owed under the rebateable loan arrangement.4
As pertinent here, Appellants’ amended Answer alleged eight5 counterclaims arising from
EDV: breach of contract (failure to provide “a successful, reasonable and non-damaging total
merchandising program”), unjust enrichment, fraud in the inducement, constructive fraud,
negligent misrepresentation, promissory and equitable estoppel, and breach of contract for failure
4
Nash-Finch also alleged a breach-of-confidentiality and tortious-interference-with-a-contractual-
relationship claim, but agreed not to pursue that claim so that the district court could resolve the case on
summary judgment.
5
Because Appellants failed to oppose Nash-Finch’s motion for summary judgment on the breach-of-oral-
contract, negligence, and gross-negligence counterclaims, the district court concluded those counterclaims
were abandoned. Appellants do not appeal the dismissal of those counterclaims.
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to timely deliver goods in an undamaged, clean and healthy condition. (R. 70, PID 470-76.) The
gravamen of Appellants’ counterclaims was that Nash-Finch was the first to breach the RSSA.
Following discovery, Nash-Finch moved for summary judgment on its breach-of-contract
claim and on Appellants’ counterclaims. The district court rejected Appellants’ argument that
Nash-Finch breached the RSSA first and granted Nash-Finch summary judgment on its breach-of-
contract claim. The district court dismissed Appellants’ counterclaims, and later denied
Appellants’ motion to vacate, alter or amend the judgment. This appeal followed.
I.
Appellants first challenge the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Nash-Finch on
its breach-of-contract claim, asserting that factual issues remained regarding whether Nash-Finch
breached the RSSA first, thus excusing Appellants’ failure to perform under the RSSA. Appellants
argue that Nash-Finch breached the RSSA when it
:
Without the benefit of . If nothing else,
. At some point,
. When the
beneficial effects of the program cease to exist and the program becomes
ineffectual, it is no longer operational and has ended.
When presented to retailers, the EDV Program was the
. However, as the
benefits of the EDV Program slowly fell apart the Appellees
. As Tony Bender [then a Nash-Finch retail counselor]
testified, the Program initially offered
. [Martin] Cox said
this
.
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.
(Appellants’ Br. at 13-14.) Cox testified that his stores “were fine” until around August 2012,
.
(R. 100-1, PID 622.)
Appellants also maintain that questions of fact remained regarding whether participation
in EDV was mandatory and, if it was, whether EDV should be treated as part of the RSSA and
obligated Nash-Finch to create a functional program. Appellants assert that the RSSA is
ambiguous because it is unclear whether it encompassed the EDV program and fact questions
remained whether the RSSA permitted increased distribution fees. Finally, Appellants assert that
questions of fact remained whether the RSSA is unconscionable.
Nash-Finch does not dispute that after EDV’s implementation in mid-2009: 1) the number
of . Nash-
Finch explains that because it
.
A.
Kentucky substantive law applies in this diversity-jurisdiction case. Hayes v. Equitable
Energy Resources Co., 266 F.3d 560, 566 (6th Cir. 2001). The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
apply to civil actions in federal courts, under which we review a grant of summary judgment de
novo, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Appellants, the non-movants. Id.
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Under Kentucky law, “[w]here a contract is ambiguous or silent on a vital matter, a court
may consider parol and extrinsic evidence involving the circumstances surrounding execution of
the contract, the subject matter of the contract, the objects to be accomplished, and the conduct of
the parties.” Cantrell Supply, Inc. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 94 S.W.3d 381, 385 (Ky. Ct. App.
2001). If there is no ambiguity, “the parties’ intentions must be discerned from the four corners
of the instrument without resort to extrinsic evidence.” Id. “A contract is ambiguous if a
reasonable person would find it susceptible to different or inconsistent interpretations.” Id.
The party first breaching a contract “cannot complain if the other party thereafter refused
to perform.” Hall v. Rowe, 439 S.W.3d 183, 187 (Ky. Ct. App. 2014) (quoting Dalton v. Mullins,
293 S.W.2d 470, 476 (Ky. 1956)); see also O’Bryan v. Mengel Co., 6 S.W.2d 249, 251 (Ky. 1928)
(“No principle in the law of contracts is better settled than that the breach of an entire indivisible
contract in a material particular excuses further performance by the other party and precludes an
action for damages on the unexecuted part of the contract.”).
An unconscionable contract is “one which no man in his senses, not under delusion, would
make, on the one hand, and which no fair and honest man would accept, on the other.” Conseco
Fin. Servicing Corp. v. Wilder, 47 S.W.3d 335, 342 (Ky. Ct. App. 2001).
B.
The district court assumed, as Appellants urged, that their participation in EDV was
mandatory. Noting that it was “not unsympathetic to the grocers’ plight,” the district court
acknowledged
. (R. 111, PID 1325.) But after concluding that the RSSA is unambiguous, the
district court determined that the RSSA permitted Nash-Finch to
, and that Appellants “pointed to no
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legal requirement on behalf of [Nash-Finch] to implement a marketing strategy that succeeded or
otherwise conformed to the Cox Defendants’ specific needs and demands.” (Id. at PID 1326-27.)
The district court also rejected Appellants’ contention that the EDV program’s poor quality
rendered the RSSA unconscionable, noting that Appellants provided “no legal authority or factual
predicate to support their contention of unconscionability,” that the RSSA’s language is clear, and
that Appellants are sophisticated entities. (Id. at PID 1328-29.)
C.
Under paragraph 32 of the RSSA, Nash-Finch agreed to “have services and programs
available to” Appellants, “subject to applicable charges and the right of Super Food to make
changes at any time as to their cost, nature and availability.” (R. 43-2, PID 220.) The RSSA lists
a number of services and programs, including a “Total Merchandising Program.” There is no
dispute that EDV is a “Total Merchandising Program.” (Id.)
On appeal, Appellants assert that
before the EDV Program exists in name only.” (Appellants’ Br. at 13.) But Appellants presented
no evidence that EDV ended or existed in name alone and Nash-Finch submitted deposition
testimony of James Gohsman, the Nash-Finch employee who oversaw Appellants’ accounts, that
EDV, including , remained in place after Appellants
terminated the RSSA in February 2015. Further, as the district court determined, under the RSSA’s
plain language, Nash-Finch was required to provide a total merchandising program such as EDV,
but was allowed to change the costs affiliated with EDV. And the RSSA did not obligate Nash-
Finch to guarantee the success of the EDV program or to change or alter the program if retailers
were dissatisfied with it.
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Appellants also take issue with the district court’s determination that
were permitted under the RSSA, pointing to the
deposition testimony of former Nash-Finch employee Gary Crawford, who serviced Appellants’
account, that
.
Paragraph ¶ 13 of the RSSA, titled “Pricing,” required that Appellants pay “distribution
fees:”
B. Distribution fees (not including freight) shall be paid by Corporations in
accordance with the current Super Food fee schedule (which is on a floating week-
to-week schedule), as it may be amended by Super Food from time to time.
(R. 43-2, PID 216.) Crawford testified that .
However, ¶ 54 of the RSSA states that the parties made “no representations, warranties, covenants
or promises” other than contained in the RSSA. (Id. at PID 227.) And, after reviewing ¶ 54 at his
deposition, Crawford acknowledged that .
Also without merit is Appellants’ assertion that Nash-Finch failed to accurately disclose a
key component of EDV, that .
The PowerPoint presentation Nash-Finch presented to retailers in 2009 states that
(R. 100-11, PID 744); the topic was
discussed during the presentation; and Martin Cox testified that he understood the need to lower
labor costs under EDV.
Appellants’ claim that Nash-Finch’s proposed interpretation of the RSSA is
unconscionable because “[Nash-Finch and Super Food] believe that they can sculpt a contract for
which they cannot be held liable for breaching” (Appellants’ Br. at 22-23.) is unsupported by
citation to authority or citation to the record.
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For these reasons, we affirm the district court’s determination that Appellants failed to
establish that Nash-Finch was the first to breach the RSSA.
II.
Appellants’ breach-of-contract counterclaim based on untimely deliveries was properly
dismissed. Appellants submitted no evidence to support their claim that when the warehouse from
which they received deliveries was changed from Cleveland to Lima, Nash-Finch’s deliveries were
untimely or damaged. Moreover, the RSSA required Appellants to provide written notice of
delayed or damaged deliveries,6 and Appellants provided no evidence of such notice. The district
court correctly determined that summary judgment was proper on this counterclaim.
6
Paragraph 27 of the RSSA provides:
27. Super Food On-Time Deliveries. Super Food shall make timely deliveries of quality
Product with acceptable fresh code dating, undamaged and in clean and healthy condition
. . . . Corporations can declare Super Food in breach of this Agreement
of the deliveries in the aggregate for all Stores
.
If for any thirty (30)-day period, by Super
Food for all Stores are , corporations shall provide written notice of
such fact within five (5) days following expiration of the 30-day period, such notice given
both (i) pursuant to Section 46 herein, plus (ii) fax notification on the same day.
If following such notice, Super Food’s deliveries in the aggregate for all
Stores are the full 60-day period, then corporations can terminate this
Agreement following expiration of the 60 days upon both (i) giving a second written notice
pursuant to Section 46 herein, which notice shall specify the date of termination, and
(ii) complying with the terms of Section 38B herein.
Under this Section, delivery is not late if (i) the truck arrives within the allotted
after its originally scheduled arrival time, (ii) the delay was caused by Corporations or its
employees, agents or contractors, or (iii) Corporations fail to fulfill its obligations under
this Section.
(R. 43-2, PID 218.)
RSSA Section (¶) 46 provides the addresses written notice should be sent to, method of mailing, etc.
Section (¶) 38(B) explains that, in the event of a Super Food Uncured Default, corporations may terminate
the RSSA upon giving written notice, paying the remaining unpaid principal balance and accrued interest
of any loans, and paying the then-owed open account balance on the effective date of termination.
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III.
Appellants challenge the district court’s determination that the economic-loss doctrine
barred their counterclaims for fraud in the inducement, constructive fraud, and negligent
misrepresentation, stating, “these claims which are plead [sic] in the alternative, will arise if the
activities plead [sic] in fact occurred outside the scope of any contractual agreement.” (Appellants’
Br. at 25-26.)
The economic-loss rule provides that “[d]amages for injuries to persons or other property
may be recovered in tort but a case involving purely economic losses requires resort to the parties’
contract and any express or implied warranties.” Giddings & Lewis, Inc. v. Indus. Risk Insurers,
348 S.W.3d 729, 733 (Ky. 2011). Appellants correctly observe that Kentucky courts have
discussed the economic-loss rule in limited contexts, including product liability and construction
claims. The district court similarly noted that the Kentucky Supreme Court “has yet to fully define
the contours of Kentucky’s economic loss rule.” (R. 111, PID 1330.)7
Because Appellants’ fraud and misrepresentation counterclaims fail on the merits without
regard to the economic-loss rule, we affirm the dismissal on an alternative basis. To establish
fraud in the inducement, Appellants must show by clear and convincing evidence that Nash-Finch
made a material representation that is false; Nash-Finch knew of its falsity or made the
7
The district court noted that several federal courts applying Kentucky law have applied the
economic-loss doctrine to preclude fraud and negligent misrepresentation claims. (R. 111, PID
1330-31 (citing Ashland Hosp. Corp. v. Provation Med., Inc., No. 14-444-DLB-EBA, 2014 WL
5486217, at *4 (E.D. Ky. Oct. 29, 2014) (“Given the Kentucky Supreme Court’s rather broad
application of the economic loss doctrine, as well as the close relationship between fraud and
negligent misrepresentation claims, this Court is now confident in predicting the Kentucky
Supreme Court would extend the economic loss rule to fraud claims.”); and Westlake Vinyls, Inc.
v. Goodrich Corp., 518 F. Supp. 2d 955, 968 (W.D. Ky. 2007) (economic loss doctrine “precludes
a plaintiff from recovering under a fraud theory when that claim is intertwined with a breach of
contract claim.”).) The district court concluded that the economic-loss doctrine precluded
Appellants’ fraud and misrepresentation claims.
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representation recklessly; Nash-Finch intended the representation to be acted upon; Appellants
acted in reliance on the representation; and that reliance operated to Appellants’ detriment. See
Bear, Inc. v. Smith, 303 S.W.3d 137, 142 (Ky. Ct. App. 2010); see also Martinez v. Bruner Land
Co., Inc., No. 2014-CA-001312-MR, 2016 WL 6543626, at *5 (Ky. Ct. App. Nov. 4, 2016).
Additionally, to support an allegation of fraud, a misrepresentation must be made concerning a
present or pre-existing fact, and not a promise to perform in the future. Bear, Inc., 303 S.W.3d at
142.
Constructive fraud “arises from the breach of a legal duty which the law would pronounce
fraudulent because of its tendency to deceive others, violate confidence, or injure public interest.”
Kendrick v. Bailey Vault Co., Inc., 944 S.W.2d 147, 150 (Ky. Ct. App. 1997).
Kentucky has adopted the standards for negligent misrepresentation set forth in § 552 of
the Restatement (Second) of Contracts:
One who, in the course of his business, profession or employment, or in any other
transaction in which he has a pecuniary interest, supplies false information for the
guidance of others in their business transactions, is subject to liability for pecuniary
loss caused to them by their justifiable reliance upon the information, if he fails to
exercise reasonable care or competence in obtaining or communicating the
information.
Presnell Const. Managers, Inc. v. EH Const., LLC, 134 S.W.3d 575, 581 (Ky. 2004).
Because Appellants submitted no evidence that Nash-Finch made a material
misrepresentation, or false or fraudulent statement about EDV to induce Appellants to participate
in the program, their counterclaims of fraud in the inducement, constructive fraud, and negligent
misrepresentation were properly dismissed.
IV.
To prevail under the theory of unjust enrichment, a party must prove three elements: (1) a
benefit conferred on the defendant at the plaintiff’s expense; (2) a resulting appreciation of benefit
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by the defendant; and (3) the inequitable retention of the benefit without payment for its value.
Guerin v. Fulkerson, 354 S.W.3d 161, 165 (Ky. Ct. App. 2011). However, “the doctrine of unjust
enrichment has no application in a situation where there is an explicit contract which has been
performed.” Codell Constr. Co. v. Commonwealth, 566 S.W.2d 161, 165 (Ky. Ct. App. 1977).
The district court dismissed the unjust-enrichment counterclaim because the RSSA
governed the relationship and the claim. We find no error.
V.
Although Kentucky courts have not addressed the question, this court, applying Kentucky
law, has held that promissory estoppel “cannot be the basis for a claim if it represents the same
performance contemplated under a written contract.” See, e.g., Shane v. Bunzl Distrib. USA, Inc.,
200 F. App’x 397, 403 (6th Cir. 2006) (predicting that since “it is a widely accepted principle that
promissory estoppel is applicable only in the absence of an otherwise enforceable contract, . . . the
Supreme Court of Kentucky would also apply this principle”) The district court dismissed
Appellants’ promissory estoppel counterclaim in light of the RSSA.
Regardless, this counterclaim fails on the merits. Promissory estoppel involves “a promise
which the promisor should reasonably expect to induce action or forbearance on the part of the
promisee . . . and which does induce such action or forbearance [and] is binding if injustice can be
avoided only by enforcement of the promise.” Sawyer v. Mills, 295 S.W.3d 79, 89 (Ky. 2009).
Appellants argued below that Nash-Finch’s most injurious act was not the implementation of EDV
but the
. Appellants thus argued that a question of fact remained whether Nash-Finch
“either promised results or otherwise made false representations . . . regarding the requirements
and benefits of the EDV Program.” (R. 104, PID PID 1082-83.) However, Appellants presented
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no evidence that they relied to their detriment on any representation Nash-Finch made regarding
the EDV program.
VI.
“[E]quitable estoppel requires both a material misrepresentation by one party and reliance
by the other party.” Ping v. Beverly Enters., Inc., 376 S.W.3d 581, 595 (Ky. 2012). Equitable
estoppel “is a defensive doctrine founded under the principles of fraud, under which one party is
prevented from taking advantage of another party whom it has falsely induced to act in some
injurious [or] detrimental way.” Id. at 594-95.
The district court correctly dismissed Appellants’ equitable-estoppel counterclaim because
it rests on the proposition that Nash-Finch misrepresented or failed to inform them of the necessity
to decrease labor costs, a claim we rejected in § I.C.
VII.
Appellants’ amended notice of appeal states that they also appeal the district court’s order
denying their motion to alter or amend judgment, but Appellants make no argument addressing
that order.
For the reasons stated, we AFFIRM the district court’s judgment in all respects.
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