Opinion ID: 597807
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Breach-of-Warranty Claim

Text: 27 In the Pretrial Order, appellants admitted (a) that in the Representations and Warranties of Express and the Stockholders section of the Agreement, they had warranted that Express had no pending or threatened litigation or outstanding contracts that were not there disclosed; and (b) that in fact there were six such litigations, four confessions of judgment, and a number of contractual obligations that were not there disclosed. Nonetheless, they contend that the district court erred in directing a verdict against them as to liability on Metromedia's breach-of-warranty claim, on the premise that there was a triable issue of fact as to whether the express warranties given by them in the Agreement were bargained for. We reject their contention. 28 The trial court may direct a verdict where the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party,  'is such that, without weighing the credibility of the witnesses or otherwise considering the weight of the evidence, there can be but one conclusion as to the verdict that reasonable men could have reached.'  Sir Speedy, Inc. v. L & P Graphics, Inc., 957 F.2d 1033, 1038-39 (2d Cir.1992) (quoting Simblest v. Maynard, 427 F.2d 1, 4 (2d Cir.1970)). The framework that governs the district court's decision on a motion for a directed verdict also applies to our review of that decision. See, e.g., Sir Speedy, Inc. v. L & P Graphics, Inc., 957 F.2d at 1039; Powell v. Gardner, 891 F.2d 1039, 1043 (2d Cir.1989); Konik v. Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital Medical Center, 733 F.2d 1007, 1013 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 884, 105 S.Ct. 253, 83 L.Ed.2d 190 (1984). If, drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the party that opposed the directed verdict and making all credibility assessments in its favor, there was not sufficient evidence to permit a rational juror to find in its favor, we will uphold the directed verdict. 29 The substantive framework for Metromedia's breach-of-warranty claim is provided by New York law. In the leading case, CBS Inc. v. Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., 75 N.Y.2d 496, 554 N.Y.S.2d 449, 553 N.E.2d 997 (1990), the New York Court of Appeals noted that a breach-of-warranty claim is grounded in contract, and it stated that a buyer need not show that he believed that the assurances of fact made in the warranty would be fulfilled. The right to indemnification depends only on establishing that the warranty was breached.... Id. at 503-04, 554 N.Y.S.2d at 453, 553 N.E.2d at 1001. The court noted that it was not suggesting that there need be no reliance; rather, it stated that the required reliance is established if, as here, the express warranties are bargained-for terms of the seller. Id. at 506 n. 5, 554 N.Y.S.2d at 454 n. 5, 553 N.E.2d at 1002 n. 5. The court stated that an express warranty is as much a part of the contract as any other term. Id. at 503, 554 N.Y.S.2d at 453, 553 N.E.2d at 1001. 30 Since as a matter of law, an express warranty is as much a part of the contract as any other term, the inclusion in the Agreement here of the Representations and Warranties of Express and the Stockholders established that those representations and warranties were part of the bargain reached between Metromedia and appellants. No rational juror could have found that it was not part of the bargain. Indeed, it is noteworthy that appellants in their proposed jury instructions did not ask to have the jury decide such a question. Rather, they asked the court to inform the jury that Metromedia could prevail on its breach-of-warranty claim if it proved (1) the existence of an express warranty, (2) material breach of the warranty, (3) damages proximately resulting from the material breach, and (4) justifiable reliance on the warranty. Neither in their initial submission of this request nor in a slightly amended version thereafter did appellants make any mention whatever of a supposed question as to whether the warranties were bargained for. 31 The first two questions appellants sought to have the jury consider had been answered by appellants' admissions in the Pretrial Order; the fourth was a matter of law under the ruling in CBS Inc. v. Ziff-Davis Publishing Co. Only the matter of damages was left to be decided, and that question was given to the jury. As the district court noted, appellants advanced no defense to the breach-of-warranty claim, making no showing that they agreed to the warranties as a result of, for example, fraud, mistake, or duress. Accordingly, there was no issue for the jury to decide with respect to appellants' liability on the breach-of-warranty claim, and the district court properly ruled that Metromedia was entitled to recover its damages on that claim as a matter of law.