Opinion ID: 1989929
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Did the district court properly reject Deere's statute of limitations defense?

Text: Eckart and Delfino quit working at Revere and started developing the D E replacement part for the Gozinta in 1989. Deere terminated its contractual relationship with Revere in July 1990. Revere filed its petition against Deere on August 24, 1993. Prior to trial, Deere filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that Revere's claims were barred because they were not filed within three years of March 12, 1989, the date Delfino and Eckart submitted their proposal to Deere and the date they allegedly breached their nondisclosure agreement with Revere. In response to the motion, Revere argued it did not learn that Delfino and Eckart had a business deal with Deere until 1992. The district court agreed with Revere's argument and overruled Deere's motion. The court did not submit a statute of limitations issue to the jury, but rather relied on its summary judgment ruling. This issue again was raised by Deere in its directed verdict and post trial motions. Deere contends the district court incorrectly decided that Revere's claims were filed in a timely manner. The applicable period of limitations for claims for tortious interference with a contract under Iowa law is five years. See Iowa Code § 614.1(4); Iowa Coal Min. Co. v. Monroe County, 555 N.W.2d 418, 437 (Iowa 1996); Westway Trading Corp., 314 N.W.2d at 403. Connecticut's applicable period of limitations on this claim, however, is three years. See Conn.Gen.Stat. § 52-577 (1995). In overruling Deere's motion for summary judgment, the court did not articulate whether Iowa or Connecticut law governed the applicable statute of limitations, but simply concluded that Revere had no knowledge of the viability of its claims against Deere until 1992. [5] Iowa and Connecticut both require that a claim for misappropriation of trade secrets must be brought within three years from the date the misappropriation is discovered or should have been discovered by exercise of reasonable diligence. See Iowa Code § 550.8; Conn.Gen.Stat. § 52-577. Irrespective of whether the Connecticut three-year or Iowa five-year period applies, we agree with the district court's conclusion that Deere presented no evidence that Revere had knowledge, inquiry or otherwise, before 1992 of Delfino and Eckart's business deal with Deere to make a replacement part for the Gozinta. Thus, there was no basis for submitting a statute of limitations issue to the jury. The statute of limitations did not begin to run until 1992. Revere's claims against Deere were filed in a timely manner because they were filed within at least three years after Revere received knowledge of Delfino and Eckart's business dealing with Deere. We therefore find no error on this issue and affirm.