Opinion ID: 419203
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Interference with Contract.

Text: 48 Turning to the district court's award of $28,702 for tortious interference with contract, we find that a similar analysis applies. CDT's complaint did not allege that ADDS had interfered with a CDT-Intel contract; rather, it alleged that ADDS had interfered with CDT's prospective business advantage in connection with the Intel transaction. Nor did CDT's pretrial statement mention inducement to breach a contract. Instead, it stated CDT's theory to be that ADDS interfered with CDT's prospective economic relationship with Intel Corporation by depriving CDT of a sale to that corporation by using means which were inconsistent with the distributorship relationship between CDT and ADDS. The district court rendered its initial judgment in favor of CDT on this basis. On a Rule 59 motion to alter or amend judgment, ADDS argued that the liability imposed for interference with prospective business advantage could not stand, because ADDS, like any competitor, was privileged to submit a sales offer to Intel at any time prior to the formation of a binding contract between Intel and CDT. The district court, in its supplemental findings and conclusions entered in response to CDT's motion, agreed with this reasoning. However, for the first time it found that a contract between CDT and Intel had been formed prior to the submission of ADDS's second bid, and that the submission of that bid constituted a tortious interference with contract. . 49 Because the interference with contract theory was not pleaded and was not tried by consent as required by Federal Rule 15(b), we conclude that the district court's judgment on this issue cannot stand. The evidence at trial focused primarily upon ADDS's pricing policies and the question whether ADDS's second bid breached some express or implied obligation not to engage in price cutting running from ADDS to CDT. By contrast, the parties never appear to have focused upon the question whether a binding contract between CDT and Intel ever existed. For example, CDT called as a witness Steve Abreu, Intel's purchasing agent, who would presumably have been in the best position of any non-party to testify concerning the existence of such a contract. Yet Abreu was not asked anything about the existence of a contract; instead the questioning focused upon whether or not Intel could properly be classified as an original equipment manufacturer of computers. The only testimony cited by CDT to support its contention that the interference with contract issue was tried by consent was that of Douglas Cole, CDT's own salesman. This testimony is not sufficient to show that the question whether a CDT-Intel contract existed was fully tried by consent. We conclude that ADDS never received a proper opportunity to contest the existence of the contract, and therefore suffered substantial prejudice as a result of the district court's post-trial ruling premised upon Rule 15(b). We conclude that we must reverse the district court's judgment on the interference with contract issue, and must remand for retrial to determine whether a valid contract between CDT and Intel was ever formed, and if so, whether ADDS tortiously interfered with that contract. 50