Plaintiffs' negligence claim is barred by the statute of limitations as well. Plaintiffs' own complaint identifies the time of injury to be when defendants negotiated the bills of lading to Chohung Bank. As previously mentioned, plaintiffs' papers are devoid of any reference to the issue that the time limit for the negligence claim had expired, thereby conceding its expiration. As such, plaintiffs' negligence claim is also time barred. Defendants' motion to dismiss the indemnity claim for failure to state a cause of action is granted and plaintiff is granted leave to replead that cause of action.
Plaintiffs rely on a claim of implied or common law indemnity as well as contractual indemnity.
In order to recover damages on a theory of contractual indemnity the plaintiff must show a contractual relationship with the party from which it is seeking indemnity. There is no assertion in the complaint that plaintiffs had any direct contractual relationship with defendants. However, plaintiffs do argue that a contractual relationship with defendants existed through Yuwon, which acted as agent for Continental Grain in this matter. To prove that an agency in fact exists it must be shown that the purported agent had actual or implied authority to act as agents for the principal. Plaintiffs rely only on representations by Yuwon to establish its own authority as agent for Continental Grain.