Opinion ID: 203251
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: State Contract Claim

Text: The defendants appeal the jury's determination that the leases were orally amended to include the Subsidy, and therefore when the Subsidy was ended, the leases were breached. First, the defendants contend that the leases were completely integrated, meaning oral representations before or during the execution of the contract must be excluded by the parol evidence rule. Second, they claim that even if the leases were not integrated, the jury had insufficient evidence to conclude that the leases were amended to include a promise to continue the Subsidy. The defendants argue as an initial matter that the leases were completely integrated agreements. The leases indisputably represented that they were integrated agreements and that any subsequent modification had to be in writing. The defendants claim the integration clause operated to insulate the leases from oral representations made prior to or contemporaneous with execution. But a document is not integrated merely because it says so. See Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 209 cmt. b (1981) (Written contracts, signed by both parties, may include an explicit declaration that there are no other agreements between the parties, but such a declaration may not be conclusive.). In Massachusetts, the question of integration is one of fact reserved for the trial judge, whose resolution of that issue will not be reversed unless clearly erroneous. Cambridgeport Sav. Bank v. Boersner, 413 Mass. 432, 436 n. 7, 597 N.E.2d 1017 (1992); Antonellis v. Northgate Constr. Corp., 362 Mass. 847, 850-51, 291 N.E.2d 626 (1973) (even absent specific evaluation of evidence by trial judge, finding of non-integration upheld as not clearly erroneous); Alexander v. Snell, 12 Mass. App.Ct. 323, 424 N.E.2d 262, 264 (1981); accord Brennan v. Carvel Corp., 929 F.2d 801, 807 (1st Cir.1991) ([U]nder Massachusetts law, the determination of whether a contract is completely or partially integrated, or whether a second contract is collateral to an integrated agreement, is a question of fact to be decided in the first instance by the trial judge.). Here, the district court did not make a specific finding about integration, but the charge to the jury on amendments compels the inference that the agreements were not integrated. The jury was instructed to consider what the parties said and did concerning the lease; because the instruction did not exclude actions prior to or contemporaneous with the execution of the written lease, the district court must have concluded that the lease was not an integrated agreement. After review of the record, we cannot say that this determination was clear error. The Subsidy was explained to each plaintiff in documents accompanying the lease, and many plaintiffs testified they regarded the Subsidy as essential to their businesses. There was evidence that the defendants said that the Subsidy was intended to be permanent, that the 30-day-notice provision was only in place for cases of war or embargo, and that the Dealers could rely on the continuation of the Subsidy or something like it. The district court therefore had ample evidence before it to determine that the lease was not an integrated agreement. Because the leases were not integrated, they could be varied by mutual agreement. Mutual agreement on modification of the requirement of a writing may... be inferred from the conduct of the parties and from the attendant circumstances. First Pa. Mortg. Trust v. Dorchester Sav. Bank, 395 Mass. 614, 625, 481 N.E.2d 1132 (1985) (internal quotation omitted). The defendants assert that the evidence was insufficient to allow the jury to decide, as it did, that a promise to continue the Subsidy was incorporated into the leases. The district court instructed the jury: [Y]ou may consider what each one said, one to the other, how they behave[d], what each did, what each knew and what the circumstances were ... then you may infer ... from their statements and their conduct ... whether both Shell and each plaintiff agreed to amend the leases. Evidence adduced at trial included not only representations made directly to the Dealers that the Subsidy or something like it would always be available, but also internal Shell documentation indicating that the Subsidy was intended to be permanent, that franchisees should plan their businesses around the continued availability of the Subsidy, and that franchisees would understand the loss of the Subsidy to be a breach of a promise by Shell. A rational jury viewing this evidence might come to the conclusion that the leases were amended to include the Subsidy.