Opinion ID: 1924610
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: hall's cross-appeal

Text: Prior to trial, Crane moved to strike allegations in Hall's second amended complaint which, in part, sought damages pursuant to NDCC § 51-07-01.1, and alternatively moved for a partial summary judgment. The trial court concluded that NDCC § 51-07-01.1 was inapplicable in situations where the retailer (Hall) terminated the distributor agreement and granted Crane's motion because Hall's second amended complaint alleged that it had terminated the distributorship and Crane's amended answer agreed that Hall had terminated the distributorship. The district court entered an order dated 14 December 1981 granting Crane's alternative motion for partial summary judgment. Because of our disposition of the order for partial summary judgment, we express no comment regarding its designation. Neither do we indicate whether or not the judgment, if one had been entered, would have met the requirements of Rule 54(b), NDR Civ.P. Crane moved to dismiss the portion of Hall's cross-appeal from the order for partial summary judgment because the appeal was not taken by filing a notice of appeal within 60 days of the notice of entry of order for partial summary judgment as required by North Dakota Rules of Appellate Procedure 4(a). Although an interlocutory order is a nonappealable intermediate order, that order may be reviewed if the final judgment is appealed. Spence v. North Dakota District Court, 292 N.W.2d 53 (N.D.1980); Suburban Sales and Service, Inc. v. District Court of Ramsey County, 290 N.W.2d 247 (N.D.1980); United Hospital v. Hagen, 285 N.W.2d 586 (N.D.1979); Applegren v. Milbank Mutual Insurance Co., 268 N.W.2d 114 (N.D.1978). In this instance Hall cross-appealed from the final judgment. Consequently, the order which essentially struck a part of Hall's amended complaint is reviewable in Hall's cross-appeal from the final judgment and the language in Hall's notice of appeal to the effect that, in addition to the judgment of 2 August 1982, it was appealing from the order of 14 December 1981 is surplusage. Hall contended that it was entitled to costs and reasonable attorney's fees pursuant to NDCC § 51-07-01.1 which provides as follows: 1. Any manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor of farm implements, machinery, and repair parts therefor, or of automobiles, trucks, and repair parts therefor, who enters into a contract with any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of selling and retailing farm implements and repair parts for farm implements, or in the business of selling and retailing automobiles or trucks or repair parts for automobiles or trucks whereby such retailer agrees to maintain a stock of parts or complete or whole machines or attachments, automobiles, or trucks, shall not terminate, cancel, or fail to renew any such contract with the person, firm, or corporation without good cause. 2. For the purpose of this section, good cause for terminating, canceling, or failing to renew a contract shall be limited to failure by the person, firm, or corporation in the business of selling and retailing to comply with those requirements imposed by the written contract between the parties. Further, the determination by the manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor of good cause for such termination, cancellation, or failure to renew must be made in good faith. In any action against a manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor for violation of this section, the manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor must establish that the termination, cancellation, or failure to renew was made in good faith for good cause as that term is defined in this section. If the manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor fails to establish good cause for its action, it shall be liable for all special and general damages sustained by the plaintiff, including, but not limited to, the costs of the litigation and reasonable attorneys' fees for prosecuting the action, and the plaintiff, where appropriate, shall be entitled to injunctive relief. The provisions of this section shall apply to all contracts now in effect which have no expiration date and are continuing contracts and all other contracts entered into, amended, or renewed after July 1, 1975. Any contract in force and effect on July 1, 1975, which by its terms will terminate on a date subsequent thereto shall be governed by the law as it existed prior to July 1, 1975. [Emphasis added.] Hall contended that NDCC § 51-07-01.1 should be liberally construed to allow the award of attorney's fees when the dealer (Hall) is forced to prosecute the manufacturer (Crane) under the statute and the manufacturer fails to establish good cause for its action. Hall further contended that the phrase its action in subsection 2 of NDCC § 51-07-01.1 should not be strictly construed to mean only a termination by the manufacturer but should include cases such as the instant one. The primary purpose of statutory construction is to ascertain the intent of the Legislature. Morton County v. Henke, 308 N.W.2d 372 (N.D.1981). The Legislature's intent in enacting a statute must first be sought from the language of the statute. Apple Creek Township v. City of Bismarck, 271 N.W.2d 583 (N.D.1978). If a statute is clear and unambiguous, the letter of the statute cannot be disregarded under the pretext of pursuing its spirit because the legislative intent is presumed clear from the face of the statute. NDCC § 1-02-05; Morton County v. Henke, supra . Attorney's fees are not recoverable in an action unless expressly authorized by statute. Hager v. Devils Lake Public School District, 301 N.W.2d 630 (N.D.1981); Westchem Agricultural Chemicals, Inc. v. Engel, 300 N.W.2d 856 (N.D.1980); United Development Corp. v. State Highway Department, 133 N.W.2d 439, 22 A.L.R.3d 662 (N.D.1965). NDCC § 51-07-01.1, through its plain language, speaks only to a situation in which the manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor terminates the contract and does not pertain to the factual situation in which the retailer terminates the contract. To construe the statute as suggested by Hall would overlook the unambiguous language of the statute and would violate rules of statutory construction. In this instance the undisputed facts, as set forth in Hall's second amended complaint and Crane's amended answer, reflected that Hall terminated the agreement. Because attorney's fees are only as allowed by statute and because of the limited language in NDCC § 51-07-01.1 and the undisputed fact that Hall terminated the agreement, we conclude that the district court properly granted Crane's motion to strike a part of the complaint asking for attorney's fees because § 51-07-01.1 was not applicable. Hall contended that the trial court improperly deducted the reimbursement of 45 days of floor plan interest from its award of damages. The district court found that the agreement between Hall and Crane to exchange the three refuse trucks for the four concrete mixers included an agreement to credit Hall's account for 45 days of floor plan interest; however, Hall's account was never credited for the 45 days of floor plan interest. The district court further found that after Crane had cancelled and then reinstated the order for the four concrete mixers, Hall terminated the distributor agreement and never took physical delivery of the trucks and, therefore, was not entitled to financial assistance from Crane for a physically nonexistent large inventory. The testimony presented at trial established that a visible inventory facilitated sales. Floor plan financing essentially related to the financing of that inventory. The record suggests that 45-day floor plan financing was part of Crane's ordering plan to permit its distributors to develop an inventory visible to customers. The testimony of Gerald Hall reflected that Crane helped Hall by giving 45 days of free interest if Hall would put certain trucks into inventory, and therefore make Crane vehicles visible to customers. The record supports the finding that Hall did not receive the concrete mixers from Crane. Although further testimony was not developed in detail at trial, we agree with the district court that Hall was not entitled to reimbursement in the form of floor plan interest for an inventory which it did not physically receive. Hall also contended that the trial court erred in denying it exemplary damages pursuant to NDCC § 32-03-07. [5] NDCC § 32-03-07 and our case law establish that exemplary damages are ordinarily not recoverable in actions arising under a breach of contract. E.g., John Deere Co. v. Nygard Equipment, Inc., 225 N.W.2d 80 (N.D.1974). Because the instant action arose under a breach of contract and not an independent tort, we do not believe the trial court erred in denying exemplary damages to Hall. Hall also contended that it was entitled to prejudgment interest upon its damages at the legal rate of six percent. See, NDCC § 47-14-05. NDCC § 32-03-04 provides as follows: Every person who is entitled to recover damages certain or capable of being made certain by calculation, the right to recover which is vested in him upon a particular day, also is entitled to recover interest thereon from that day, except for such time as the debtor is prevented by law or by the act of the creditor from paying the debt. In Metcalf v. Security International Insurance Co., 261 N.W.2d 795, 802 (N.D. 1977), we said: If a claim for breach of contract is uncertain, unliquidated, and disputed, interest should not be awarded to the plaintiff prior to the entry of the judgment by which the amount due for the breach is determined. North American Pump Corp. v. Clay Equipment Corp., 199 N.W.2d 888 (N.D.1972). However, the fact that a defendant disputes the sum owed does not, in itself, render the plaintiff's claim uncertain or unliquidated so as to deny the plaintiff interest under § 32-03-04, N.D.C.C. Stee v. L Monte Industries, Inc., 247 N.W.2d 641 (N.D. 1976). In this instance, the interest rate on Hall's loan with GMAC for the inventory financing for the four concrete mixers fluctuated between 11¾% and 21¾%. Additionally and more importantly, the date of sale of each mixer was indefinite. We believe these factors preclude Hall from prejudgment interest on its special damages for the period of time between the termination of the distributor agreement (60 days after 25 February 1981) and the dates when Crane issued checks payable to GMAC (11 August 1981, 5 November 1981, 24 November 1981) (see fn. 2.), or the date when Hall sold the concrete mixer (16 December 1981). However, during the period of time after Crane issued checks to GMAC (11 August 1981, 5 November 1981, and 24 November 1981) and until judgment was entered (2 August 1982), the amount of interest on the inventory financing paid on each mixer was certain, and Hall was entitled to prejudgment interest on that amount at the legal rate. Consequently, we remand for the limited purpose of calculating prejudgment interest on the damages (interest on Hall's loan with GMAC on each mixer) for the time period after Crane issued the checks to GMAC (11 August 1981, 5 November 1981, and 24 November 1981) or Hall sold the mixer (16 December 1981) and until entry of judgment and to modify the judgment to allow damages only from 60 days after 25 February 1980 instead of 22 January 1980. The judgment in all other respects is affirmed. ERICKSTAD, C.J., and VANDE WALLE, PEDERSON and PAULSON, JJ., concur.