Cass, Inc. v. Production Pattern and Foundry Co., Inc.
Filing
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ORDER denying ECF No. 138 Defendant Production Pattern and Foundry's Motion for District Judge to Reconsider Order; granting ECF No. 137 Plaintiff Cass's Motion for Partial Entry of Judgment; Clerk directed to enter ju dgment on CASS's second breach-of-contract claim in CASS's favor and against Production Pattern and Foundry in the amount of $917,203.13. Signed by Judge Larry R. Hicks on 07/28/2017. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - KW)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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DISTRICT OF NEVADA
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*****
CASS, INC., a California corporation,
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Plaintiff,
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v.
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3:13-cv-00701-LRH-WGC
ORDER
PRODUCTION PATTERN AND FOUNDRY
CO., INC., a Nevada corporation, AKA
PRODUCTION PATTERN & FOUNDRY,
Defendant.
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This is a contract dispute between plaintiff CASS, Inc., and defendant Production Pattern
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and Foundry Co., Inc. (“PPF”) stemming from a series of contracts arising from CASS’s sale of
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aluminum alloy to PPF. Both parties moved for summary judgment (ECF Nos. 107–09), which
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the court denied to both parties as to CASS’s first breach-of-contract claim but granted in part as
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to CASS on its second contract claim. ECF No. 136.
CASS now moves for the court to enter judgment on the latter claim. ECF No. 137. PPF
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has opposed this motion (ECF No. 143) and has also separately moved for reconsideration of the
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court’s partial grant of summary judgment in CASS’s favor (ECF No. 138). Because the court
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finds that there is no genuine dispute of material fact as to PPF’s acknowledgement of its debt to
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CASS, the court will deny the motion for reconsideration. And because the second breach of
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contract claim is distinct from CASS’s other pending claims, the court will enter judgment on it.
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I.
Background
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The parties are well aware of this long-standing dispute’s extensive background, which
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the court described at length in its summary-judgment order. See ECF No. 136. The motion for
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reconsideration relates only to PPF’s statute-of-limitations defense to CASS’s contract claim
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regarding the aluminum orders that PPF undisputedly received from CASS but for which it failed
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to pay.
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In its summary-judgment order, this court held that an email exchange between the
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parties in June of 2010 constituted PPF’s written acknowledgment of its debt to CASS and
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therefore tolled the statute of limitations. ECF No. 136 at 27. In discussing the unpaid invoices in
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its initial email, CASS stated that “[i]t was made very clear at our last meeting both the
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$640,437.84[,] which is now due[,] and the $1,041,352.60 cost to unwind the hedges must be
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addressed in a repayment plan presented by PPF.” ECF No. 108-7 at 33. PPF responded that,
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“[r]egarding the outstanding balance with CASS, [PPF] has not changed [its] position in terms of
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this and will continue to meet [its] obligations to CASS.” Id. at 32. Based on this exchange, the
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court concluded that there was no genuine dispute that PPF acknowledged its debt.
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II.
Motion for reconsideration
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PPF moves for reconsideration of the grant of partial summary judgment, arguing that the
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issue of whether its email served as a written acknowledgement of its debt was a question of fact
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and therefore inappropriate for disposition at summary judgment. ECF No. 138. PPF also
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contends that the court erred in determining that the email was not barred under Federal Rule of
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Evidence 408 as a statement made during the course of compromise negotiations.
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PPF is correct that it is within the court’s inherent authority to reconsider its own
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summary-judgment order before final judgment is entered in order to correct a clear error or
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prevent a manifest injustice. See City of Los Angeles, Harbor Div. v. Santa Monica Baykeeper,
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254 F.3d 882, 885 (9th Cir. 2001). However, such extraordinary relief is not warranted in this
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instance.
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In regards to the acknowledgement issue, PPF argues that its email does not serve as a
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direct and unqualified willingness to pay a specific debt because “there is no indication in the
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email of what PPF’s position is or what PPF considered its obligation to be . . . .” ECF No. 145
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at 3. Critically, however, PPF has failed to assert its own explanation or interpretation of its
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statement “regarding the outstanding balance with CASS.” Absent such a conflicting
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interpretation, the court finds that there is no genuine dispute of material fact regarding this
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issue.
The undisputed facts therefore establish that (1) CASS asserted the fact that PPF owed it
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a specific sum of money for the aluminum that PPF had failed to pay for and (2) PPF neither
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disputed the amount due nor its obligation to pay the outstanding balance. Rather, PPF affirmed
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that it would “continue to meet [its] obligations to CASS.”
Moreover, in regards to the admissibility of these statements under FRE 408, this issue
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was raised in PPF’s motions for summary judgment and to strike and was ruled upon by the
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court in its last order. ECF No. 136 at 34. PPF raises this issue in its instant motion solely for the
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purpose of rearguing the legal merits of its position, which is improper for a motion for
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reconsideration.
Based on the foregoing, the court will deny PPF’s motion.
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III.
Motion for entry of judgment
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A.
Entry of judgment is warranted
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CASS moves for entry of final judgment on its second breach-of-contract claim under
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Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 54(b). ECF No. 137. “When an action presents more than one
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claim for relief[,]” this rule allows the court to “direct entry of a final judgment as to one or
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more, but fewer than all, claims . . . only if the court expressly determines that there is no just
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reason for delay. Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(b). Judgment under this rule is appropriate where there are
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distinct and severable claims and where immediate review of the adjudicated claims will not
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result in later duplicative proceedings at the trial or appellate level. Wood v. GCC Bend, LLC,
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422 F.3d 873, 878–89 (9th Cir. 2005).
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Conversely, partial judgment under Rule 54(b) is inappropriate in routine cases where the
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risk of “multiplying the number of proceedings and of overcrowding the appellate docket”
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outweighs “pressing needs . . . for an early judgment.” Morrison–Knudsen Co., Inc. v. Archer,
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655 F.2d 962, 965 (9th Cir. 1981). “A similarity of legal or factual issues will weigh heavily
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against entry of judgment under the rule, and in such cases, a Rule 54(b) order will be proper
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only where necessary to avoid a harsh and unjust result . . . .” Id.
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The court finds that entry of judgment on CASS’s second contract claim is appropriate.
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Although stemming from the same series of contracts, CASS’s second contract claim is legally
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and factually distinct from its first contract claim. Any immediate appellate review of this claim,
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including the statute-of-limitations issue discussed above, would have no impact on CASS’s
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remaining claims or PPF’s defenses. Moreover, there is no dispute that PPF failed to pay for the
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aluminum it received under these contracts or as to the total principal owed from the combined
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invoices. The court therefore finds that there is no just reason for delaying entry of judgment on
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CASS’s second breach-of-contract claim.
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B.
Calculating the amount of judgment
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In opposing CASS’s original motion for summary judgment and the instant motion for
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entry of judgment, PPF has not disputed that the total balance for the unpaid aluminum invoices
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is $625,437.84. See ECF Nos. 116, 143; see also ECF No. 137 at 3 (listing the amount owed on
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each invoice). Therefore, the only remaining issue is calculating the statutory pre-judgment
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interest owed on the principal.
CASS’s motion includes several spreadsheets calculating the amount of interest owed on
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each unpaid invoice based on the applicable Nevada interest rate.1 Another spreadsheet
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calculates the total interest owed as $281,734.51, as of April 13, 2017, and a grand total of
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$907,172.35. ECF No. 137 at 24–25. Finally, CASS also calculates the total interest owed each
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day between April 13, 2017, and entry of judgment as $94.63 per day. Id. at 27–28. PPF does not
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dispute any of these figures or calculations.
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Under Nevada law, the applicable interest rate is composed of “the prime rate at the largest
bank in Nevada as ascertained by the Commissioner of Financial Institutions . . . plus 2 percent.”
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 17.130. CASS has calculated the amount of interest owed based on the prejudgment interest rate that applied during each six-month period in which Nevada determines the
prime rate at its largest bank. See ECF No. 137 at 11–22.
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Therefore, the court calculates that 106 days have passed between April 14, 2017, and the
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date that this order was signed. At a rate of $94.63 per day, PPF owes an additional $10,030.78
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in interest, bringing the grand total to $917,203.13.2 Accordingly, the court will enter judgment
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in CASS’s favor as to this amount.
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IV.
IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that defendant Production Pattern and Foundry’s motion
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for reconsideration (ECF No. 138) is DENIED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that plaintiff CASS’s motion for partial entry of judgment
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Conclusion
on its second breach-of-contract claim (ECF No. 137) is GRANTED.
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IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the clerk of the court shall enter judgment on CASS’s
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second breach-of-contract claim in CASS’s favor and against Production Pattern and Foundry in
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the amount of $917,203.13.
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IT IS SO ORDERED
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DATED this 28th day of July, 2017.
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LARRY R. HICKS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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$625,437.84 + $10,030.78.
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