Breach of Contract

Listen to this article

WI Court of Appeals – District IV

Case Name: Wisconsin Cranberry Cooperative v. Groupe Alimonco, Inc.

Case No.: 2015AP2079

Officials: Kloppenburg, P.J, Sherman, and Blanchard, JJ.

Focus: Breach of Contract

Following a bench trial, the circuit court agreed with the Seller’s position that the Seller was entitled to damages equal to the difference between the original contract price of the rejected cranberries and the Graceland sale price, multiplied by the volume of cranberries rejected by the Buyer, because the Graceland sale was a resale of the rejected cranberries. That is, the court determined that the Graceland sale involved cranberries that sufficiently conformed to the cranberries identified in the eight contracts breached by the Buyer, and was made “in good faith and in a commercially reasonable manner.” In a decision on incidental damages arising from the same eight breaches, the court awarded the Seller its freezer-storage costs for storing the volume of cranberries rejected by the Buyer. See WIS. STAT. §§ 402.706(1) and 402.710. The Buyer appeals, arguing that the court improperly allowed the Seller to recover any damages, either based on the statutory seller’s resale remedy or the freezer-storage costs. For the following reasons, we disagree and accordingly affirm.

Full Text

Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.