Opinion ID: 448869
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Trial Court's Dismissal Of Plaintiff's Second, Third And Eighth Causes Of Action

Text: 35 At the close of plaintiff's case, the district court, on motion of the defendant, dismissed the plaintiff's second, third and eighth causes of action on the grounds that the plaintiff had failed to establish a prima facie case for recovery on the claims stated therein. 36 The plaintiff's eighth cause of action presented a claim for a commission on the sale of a Camar IGS to a vessel known as the FILIKON L. Appellant contends that the only reason why the trial court dismissed this claim was because it was based entirely on the testimony of Nietsch. Argo insists that the trial judge's decision was based on its erroneous view of Nietsch's credibility. What we have already said concerning Nietsch's credibility as a witness need not be repeated yet another time. Suffice it to say that, the district judge did not err in failing to believe Nietsch's testimony that Argo was responsible for this sale. 37 However, the appellant is wrong when it insinuates that the district judge's dismissal was based solely on his refusal to believe Nietsch. Certain portions of Nietsch's testimony, itself, persuaded the trial court to dismiss the claim. At his deposition, Nietsch did not even know the name of the vessel on which he was claiming a commission; on cross-examination, he admitted that he did not know the registry of the ship or when the IGS sale was made. Furthermore, Nietsch admitted that he did not participate in any of the key negotiations for this sale. These negotiations took place in Greece. Nietsch did not know who exercised the decision to buy the IGS on behalf of the FILICON L. Based on the evidence before the trial judge, he did not err in dismissing the plaintiff's eighth cause of action. 38 In its second cause of action, Argo sought damages which it alleged arose from Camar's failure to deliver and install an IGS on the COVE LEADER within the time specified in the contract of sale. Argo alleged that it incurred additional expenses in attempting to expedite Camar's delivery of the system. However, the plaintiff's own evidence establishes that whatever difficulties were experienced in delivering IGS components to the COVE LEADER were the result of Argo's failure to obtain the down payment at the time the order for the system was placed and by further delaying forwarding of this payment to Camar, despite the fact that Argo knew Camar normally required a six month lead time for the manufacture of an IGS. 39 It is especially revealing that the sale of the IGS for the COVE LEADER took place under the terms prescribed by the Distributor Agreement which Camar has argued was to govern Camar and Argo's relationship, and not under the agency arrangement which Argo now claims governed their dealings. While Argo claims that this distributorship arrangement was unique to this transaction, we feel that the actions of the parties pursuant to this sale lend additional weight to the trial judge's conclusion that no agency relationship had been created between the parties. Hence, we conclude that the trial court did not commit error by dismissing plaintiff's cause of action. 40 In its third cause of action, the plaintiff claimed that Camar's alleged failure to timely perform the COVE LEADER IGS installation caused it to lose the sale of an IGS for the vessel COVE TRADER. The trial court dismissed this claim, pointing out that Argo never placed an order for a Camar IGS for the COVE TRADER. The court below concluded that whatever arrangement Argo had concerning the vessel was eventually cancelled by Cove with Argo's consent. 41 The above set of facts was confirmed by the testimony of Callichio, Argo's chairman and president. At trial, Callichio admitted that Argo made no effort to enforce the IGS sales contract against Cove Shipping. Accordingly, the district court correctly dismissed plaintiff's third cause of action since Argo either was responsible for, or acquiesced in, any loss of an IGS sale for the COVE TRADER. 42