Opinion ID: 692298
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Joseph and Sharon Dues

Text: 18 The Dues leased two Harvestore silos in May 1981, one to store haylage and the other for ground ear corn. Once they began using the silos in the fall of that year, the Dues noticed a drop in their herd's milk production. They immediately added supplements to the feed to increase production, and they also brought the problem to the attention of their Harvestore dealer. The dealer told the Dues that their haylage had lost some of its protein because it had not been put up properly in the silo. The dealer also explained that the Dues' herd needed time to adjust to the new feeding system. 19 Once the silo was filled with a new crop of haylage in May 1982, the Dues again eliminated protein supplements, but by October of that year, after the herd's production had again declined, they began to supplement their feed on a consistent basis. By the following year, the Dues' milk production still had not increased, and when confronted with the problem, their dealer offered a catalog of explanations, none relating to the Harvestore silos themselves. For instance, the dealer insisted that the haylage was not being put up properly because the Dues were chopping it either too fine, too long, or too short, or they were storing it at the wrong moisture content. Even by 1983, the dealer also persisted in suggesting that the herd might still be adjusting to the new feeding system. By 1985, the Dues were told that their alfalfa haylage was not picking up nutrients in the field and that they should again try harder the following year. This constant criticism of their haylage practices made the Dues believe that they were doing something wrong; they did not suspect that the Harvestore silo itself was the source of the problem. Because they had no previous experience with Harvestore silos, the Dues believed what their Harvestore dealer told them. 20 After the Tri-State dealership went out of business sometime in 1985, the Dues discussed their production problems with at least two nutritionists, one of whom was Kipfer, the former Harvestore salesman. Both nutritionists recommended that the Dues continue to add energy and mineral supplements to their feed, but neither made any connection between the lack of milk production and the Harvestore silos. The Dues also asked their veterinarian about the lack of production, and he too recommended that the herd be given more energy supplement in its ration. 21 Aside from their production problems, the Dues also observed, as early as 1982, white and red molds growing in their feed. They were concerned that mold would grow in a sealed, oxygen-free unit, and they thus questioned their Harvestore dealer about it. The dealer told the Dues that both the white and red molds grow in the absence of oxygen and that the molds actually are beneficial to the herd. 22 The Dues' herd also experienced sporadic leg and feet problems after the Dues began to use the Harvestore silos. Moreover, the Dues noticed that certain of their cows had lost weight and generally did not appear as healthy. These problems too were brought to the veterinarian's attention, and he recommended various remedies. Between 1983 and 1985, a Harvestore representative told the Dues during a farm tour that sore feet could occur in Harvestore-fed cows because the enhanced protein content of the feed causes looser manure and therefore generally wetter conditions for the cows. In that regard, the Dues were told to accept the bad with the good. 23 Before the meeting with the attorneys in December 1991, the Dues apparently made no connection between the various problems on their farm and the Harvestore silos. Joseph Dues maintains that if he had suspected that the silos were the source of his problems, he would not have continued to use them to store haylage. 24 In finding that the Dues had not been sufficiently diligent in investigating the cause of their many problems, the district court emphasized that they made no contact with any AOSHPI representative after 1985, when the local Harvestore dealership went out of business. Yet the court acknowledged that prior to that time, the Dues had consistently confronted their dealer about the lack of milk production and the need to add protein supplements to their feed. Because the court believed that by 1985, the Dues simply had accepted that the feed savings projected by their dealer would never materialize, it found that their fraud claim accrued at least by that date. Yet we think this finding may have placed too great an investigatory burden on the ordinarily diligent dairy farmer, and we therefore reverse the judgment below and remand for a trial. 25 It was significant to our resolution of the Horns' appeal that those plaintiffs had failed to raise questions with their Harvestore dealer when the production and profit levels they had been expecting did not materialize. The same cannot be said for the Dues, however, as the district court acknowledged. The Dues repeatedly confronted their dealer when problems arose, and they consistently were told either that they were chopping or storing their haylage incorrectly. An ordinarily diligent farmer could interpret the dealer's comments to mean that once the haylage was chopped and stored correctly and the cows became accustomed to their feed, the dealer's projections would be met. Cf. Hines v. A.O. Smith Harvestore Prods., Inc., 880 F.2d 995, 998 (8th Cir.1989) (farmer reasonably could rely on dealer's explanation that problems were caused by faulty seals and that the silo would perform as represented after resealing); see also Miles, 992 F.2d at 817 (discussing Hines ); Agristor Leasing v. Meuli, 634 F.Supp. 1208, 1221-22 (D.Kan.1986) (denying summary judgment where dealer may have lulled farmer into believing that the problems could be corrected), aff'd, 865 F.2d 1150 (10th Cir.1988). 26 It of course is true that the local Harvestore dealership went out of business in 1985 and that no one associated with AOSHPI told the Dues after that point that their haylage techniques were still deficient. But we are reluctant to say as a matter of law that the Dues' cause of action accrued prior to September 16, 1986, simply because they stopped asking questions a year earlier. The problems the Dues experienced in 1985 and thereafter were identical to those they already had brought to the dealer's attention in previous years. The dealer had consistently told the Dues that they must do better with their haylage, and there is nothing to indicate that the dealer's response would have changed either in 1986 or 1987. A reasonable jury could find that the Dues' acted like ordinarily diligent farmers in light of what they knew and had been told by their Harvestore dealer. Thus, the accrual question in their case does not lend itself to summary judgment, but should be resolved by a jury after a trial. See Agristor Financial Corp. v. Van Sickle, 967 F.2d 233, 240 (6th Cir.1992) (jury should resolve conflict in the evidence over when the plaintiff knew or should have discovered the defendant's fraud); Agristor Leasing v. Saylor, 803 F.2d 1401, 1405 (6th Cir.1986) (statute of limitations question should be submitted to jury where Harvestore dealer repeatedly told farmer that everything was fine and that there was nothing wrong with the Harvestore equipment); cf. Veldhuizen v. A.O. Smith Corp., 839 F.Supp. 669, 675-76 (D.Minn.1993) (although dealer blamed problems on the plaintiffs' management of the silo and its contents, no factual issue presented where the plaintiffs had been warned by two doctors familiar with Harvestore litigation that the silos themselves were the cause of the problems).