Opinion ID: 478987
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fraud and Duress.

Text: 46 Appellants assert that the district court erred in directing a verdict against their fraud claims. The elements of fraud in Minnesota are a false statement by the defendant, a communication of the false statement to the plaintiff, acts by the plaintiff in reasonable reliance on the false statement, and injury resulting from that reliance. Hanson v. Ford Motor Co., 278 F.2d 586, 591 (8th Cir.1960). Appellants now assert the statement in the termination agreement that severance pay was discretionary was false and that they signed the agreement in reliance thereon. They argued that they had lost wages, benefits, and attorneys' fees as damages for their fraud claim. We would have to agree with the district court that the damages they allege arose from their terminations and not from signing the Terminations Agreements. Moreover, the appellants present insufficient evidence to substantiate their claims of fraud. In fact, the severance policy states that severance may be payable if the termination is not for cause. We therefore affirm the district court's directed verdict on this ground. 47 Appellants further allege that they were coerced into signing the Termination Agreements under duress. With regard to appellants Thompson and Dwinnell, however, there is no evidence of duress and therefore it would not have been proper to submit this claim to the jury. With regard to Sommerfeld, the jury concluded when it considered his ADEA claim that the Termination Agreement he signed was void because it was signed under duress. As with the fraud claim discussed above, however, any damages which resulted from the duress inflicted by E-M resulted from his termination, not from his signing the releases. We therefore conclude that the district court properly directed a verdict against the appellants' state law duress claims. 48