Opinion ID: 63385
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Duty of Good Faith

Text: Innovative separately asserts that Northwood’s actions breached the implied duty of good faith. It is true that “[g]ood faith performance is an implied requirement of every contract under Louisiana law.” Grisaffi v. Dillard Dep’t Stores, Inc., 43 F.3d 982, 983 (5th Cir. 1995) (citing LA. CIV. CODE ANN. art. 1983). This duty, however, applies only to obligations related to the specific contractual duties. See Jones v. Honeywell Int’l, Inc., 295 F. Supp. 2d 652, 672 (M.D. La. 2003) (holding that because the plaintiff “allege[d] a general obligation 6 No. 07-30598 unrelated to any contractual duty, she ha[d] not properly stated a cause of action” for breach of the implied duty of good faith under Louisiana Civil Code article 1983). The good faith requirement does not allow a party to read into the contract additional obligations not contained therein. As the district court held in ruling on Northwood’s motion for summary judgment: The document (1) does not set forth what actions are permitted or prohibited within the territories; (2) does not obligate [Northwood] to sell any specific number of trailers to [Innovative]; and (3) does not forbid [Northwood] from selling trailers to Bourget’s in [Innovative’s] “exclusive” territory (assuming that [Northwood] did, indeed, do so). Moreover, Innovative has failed to set forth any competent evidence that Northwood did not perform the specified contractual duties in good faith. Accordingly, the district court did not err in finding that Northwood did not violate the duty of good faith.