Source: http://openjurist.org/285/f3d/150
Timestamp: 2013-05-23 07:52:38
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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2', '§ 1291', '§ 4432', 'art, 803', '§ 508', '§ 13']

285 F3d 150 Pure Distributors Inc v. P Baker | OpenJurist
285 F. 3d 150 - Pure Distributors Inc v. P Baker	Home285 f3d 150 pure distributors inc v. p baker
285 F3d 150 Pure Distributors Inc v. P Baker 285 F.3d 150
PURE DISTRIBUTORS, INC. d/b/a Envion International and Matthew J. Freese, Plaintiffs, Appellants,v.Christopher P. BAKER, Defendant, Appellee.
No. 01-1636.
Heard December 5, 2001.
Although the district court's order appears to resolve the case strictly on a motion to dismiss standard, both parties submitted statements of fact and evidence of matters beyond the four corners of the complaint, including deposition transcripts, copies of agreements, and other materials. Thus, the motion is better "treated as one for summary judgment and disposed of as provided in Rule 56." Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b); see also Davis v. Lucent Techs., Inc., 251 F.3d 227, 231 (1st Cir.2001).
Summary judgment is appropriate when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Barbour v. Dynamics Research Corp., 63 F.3d 32, 36 (1st Cir.1995) (quoting Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(c)). The record evidence must be construed "in the light most favorable to, and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of, the nonmoving party." Feliciano de la Cruz v. El Conquistador Resort & Country Club, 218 F.3d 1, 5 (1st Cir. 2000). We review the district court's ruling on summary judgment de novo. Straughn v. Delta Air Lines, Inc., 250 F.3d 23, 33 (1st Cir.2001).
A claim for intentional interference with contractual relations is one sounding in tort. United Truck Leasing Corp. v. Geltman, 406 Mass. 811, 551 N.E.2d 20, 21 (Mass.1990). As such, it is subject to a three-year statute of limitations under Massachusetts law.3 Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 260, § 2A (1992). The limitations period generally begins to run at the time of the plaintiff's injury. Quinn v. Walsh, 49 Mass.App.Ct. 696, 732 N.E.2d 330, 332 (Mass.App.Ct.2000). Since we take this case at summary judgment, Pure bears the burden of producing competent evidence demonstrating that its claim is timely. Kelly v. Marcantonio, 187 F.3d 192, 198 (1st Cir.1999).
Pure contends further that, although it has admitted that Baker and Sears were conniving at its expense as early as the spring of 1996, Baker's influence did not result in an actual breach of the contract — and therefore an actionable claim for intentional interference — until Sears formally repudiated the agreement with Pure on August 6, 1996, a date falling narrowly within the limitations period. See Fury Imports, Inc. v. Shakespeare Co., 625 F.2d 585, 588 (5th Cir.1980) ("In order for the plaintiff to have a cause of action for tortious interference of contract, it is axiomatic that there must be a breach of that contract.") (emphasis added and quotation marks omitted).
"[W]e may affirm the judgment on any independently sufficient ground squarely presented to us and to the district court." SEC v. Sargent, 229 F.3d 68, 75 (1st Cir.2001). Thus, Baker ask us to affirm the lower court's dismissal of Pure's claim on either of two grounds rejected by the district court.
We first address Baker's argument that, under the doctrine of res judicata, Pure's earlier suit against Eicotech forestalls the present action. "Three conditions must be met in order to justify an application of the [res judicata] doctrine: `(1) a final judgment on the merits in an earlier suit, (2) sufficient identicality between the causes of action asserted in the earlier and later suits, and (3) sufficient identicality between the parties in the two suits.'" Pérez v. Volvo Car Corp., 247 F.3d 303, 311 (1st Cir.2001) (quoting González v. Banco Cent. Corp., 27 F.3d 751, 755 (1st Cir.1994)).
Baker's argument falters at the first hurdle. Here, there is no question that the ruling against Pure in the Surfactant action in not a final judgment on the merits in the sense that it may be appealed under 28 U.S.C. § 1291. The remaining claims in that action are awaiting trial, and the district judge, in dismissing Pure's claims, did not enter judgment in favor of Eicotech in accordance with Rule 54(b). As such, the dismissal of Pure's claims remains "subject to revision at any time before the entry of judgment adjudicating all the claims and the rights of all the parties." Fed.R.Civ.P. 54(b).
Conceding the absence of true final judgment on the merits, Baker nonetheless asks us to construe the finality requirement for claim preclusion liberally to encompass the district court's earlier dismissal of the claims against Eicotech. While there is some distinguished authority for such a proposition, see 18 Charles Alan Wright & Arthur R. Miller, and Edward H. Cooper, Federal Practice & Procedure § 4432, at 302 (1981), we have declined to adopt a more expansive view of finality in the context of claim preclusion unless "very unusual circumstances" so warranted.5 O'Reilly v. Malon, 747 F.2d 820, 822 (1st Cir.1984). And we find nothing so unusual about the circumstances present here that would compel us to depart from our traditional approach. See Clausen Co. v. Dynatron/Bondo Corp., 889 F.2d 459, 465-66 (3d Cir.1989) (holding that summary judgment as to one of plaintiff's claims did not support res judicata in the absence of entry of judgment pursuant to Rule 54(b)); Senza-Gel Corp. v. Seiffhart, 803 F.2d 661, 667 (Fed.Cir.1986) (same); United States v. Arkansas, 791 F.2d 1573, 1576 (8th Cir.1986) (same). Indeed, in this case some of the concerns that might favor application of res judicata are mitigated by the fact that both actions are pending before the same district judge, who can police any possible unfairness arising from the concurrent proceedings.
This is not to say that we admire, or even condone, Pure's decision to create potentially duplicative proceedings by filing the present action. An approach more considerate of judicial economy would have entailed a simple request on Pure's part to amend the pleadings in the Surfactant action to add Baker as a party. See Fed. R.Civ.P. 21. Thus, if final judgment is entered in the Surfactant action during the course of this case, nothing in our opinion should be construed to prevent Baker from renewing his res judicata arguments.6
Baker contends that Pure has failed to allege or adduce evidence of conduct that could be construed as improper in either motive or means. According to Baker, the allegations and evidence in this case, even when viewed in the light most favorable to Pure, suggest only that Baker was engaging in honest, albeit hard-nosed, competition in the pursuit of his own financial interests. In other words, Baker contends that his conduct must be viewed as lawful so long as it constitutes merely "competing for the prize." Holmes Prods. Corp. v. Dana Lighting, Inc., 958 F.Supp. 27, 32 (D.Mass.1997).
The district court applied Massachusetts law to the statute-of-limitations question. On appeal, Pure suggests that this issue and others may be governed by New Hampshire law. Since New Hampshire law also provides for a three-year limitations period, N.H.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 508:4(I) (1997), we see no conflict of law that would necessitate our choosing between the twoSee Lambert v. Kysar, 983 F.2d 1110, 1114 (1st Cir.1993) (noting that conflict-of-law analysis is unnecessary where the "outcome is the same under the substantive law of either jurisdiction"). Moreover, we see no indication that Pure flagged the choice-of-law question before the district court; we therefore deem the issue waived for purposes of this appeal. Arrieta-Giménez v. Arrieta-Negrón, 859 F.2d 1033, 1037 (1st Cir. 1988).
Finality may, however, be understood more broadly when analyzed in the context ofissue preclusion, as opposed to claim preclusion. See Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 13 (1982) ("[F]or purposes of issue preclusion (as distinguished from merger or bar), `final judgment' includes any prior adjudication of an issue in another action that is determined to be sufficiently firm to be accorded preclusive effect.").
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