Blue Gordon, C v. v. Quicksilver Jet Sales, Inc.

444 F. App'x 1
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJune 30, 2011
Docket10-50677
StatusUnpublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 444 F. App'x 1 (Blue Gordon, C v. v. Quicksilver Jet Sales, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blue Gordon, C v. v. Quicksilver Jet Sales, Inc., 444 F. App'x 1 (5th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

KING, Circuit Judge: *

Quicksilver Jet Sales terminated a written agreement with Blue Gordon for the lease and potential sale of a corporate aircraft, citing Blue Gordon’s failure to cure a payment default under the agreement. Blue Gordon sued Quicksilver, alleging breach of contract and various tort claims. After the tort claims were dismissed on summary judgment, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Blue Gordon on its breach of contract claim. The district court denied Quicksilver’s motions for judgment as a matter of law. Because there was no legally sufficient evidentiary basis for a reasonable jury to have found that Quicksilver wrongfully terminated the agreement, we reverse.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Quicksilver Jet Sales, Incorporated (“Quicksilver”) and Blue Gordon, C.V. (“Blue Gordon”) entered into a written lease agreement for Blue Gordon’s use of a Gulfstream G-200 jet airplane owned by Quicksilver, with an option to purchase the aircraft at the end of the lease term (the “Agreement”). Under the terms of the Agreement, Blue Gordon agreed to pay the following sums: (1) an option fee of $5 million upon execution of the lease; (2) ten monthly rental payments in the amount of $1 million on the fifteenth day of each month during the term of the lease; (3) monthly interest payments on the fifteenth day of each month during the term of the lease; (4) the aircraft’s operating expenses, including insurance, maintenance, fuel, and cost of the flight crew; and (5) specified late fees if payments were untimely. A grace period of fifteen days applied to the $1 million monthly rent and interest payments.

The Agreement required Quicksilver to provide Blue Gordon with notice in the event of a default. Upon receiving such notice, Blue Gordon had recourse to two different cure periods, depending on the type of payment that was in default. Under Section 3 of the Agreement, Blue Gordon would have thirty days to cure any default for rent, interest, and late fees. *3 Under Section 18(b) of the Agreement, Blue Gordon would have ten days to cure any default for operating expenses and similar obligations. If Blue Gordon failed to cure the default, Quicksilver would have the right to terminate the Agreement, retain all payments, and repossess the aircraft.

From the date the Agreement was signed on November 24, 2008, to the date Quicksilver ultimately terminated the Agreement on April 22, 2009, Blue Gordon failed to make any timely payments under the Agreement. In March 2009, Quicksilver began sending default notices to Blue Gordon. On April 22, 2009, Quicksilver terminated the Agreement for the stated reason that' Blue Gordon had failed to cure a properly noticed operating expense default of $58,687.45. At the time of termination, Blue Gordon was in arrears on approximately $1.2 million due under the Agreement. Quicksilver rejected Blue Gordon’s post-termination attempts to cure the default that triggered the termination, as well as the other arrearages.

Blue Gordon filed suit against Quicksilver for breach of contract, claiming that Quicksilver had improperly terminated the Agreement, and pleading various tort claims against Quicksilver and three other defendants. On summary judgment, the district court dismissed the tort claims, and the case proceeded to the jury on the breach of contract claim. At the close of Blue Gordon’s evidence, Quicksilver moved for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(a), citing the insufficiency of the evidence to support Blue Gordon’s contention that Quicksilver had wrongfully terminated the Agreement. The district court took this motion under advisement.

The jury ultimately found that Quicksilver had improperly terminated the Agreement and awarded Blue Gordon $7.25 million in damages, over twice the amount Blue Gordon had requested. Quicksilver renewed its motion for judgment as a matter of law under Rule 50(b), challenging both the jury’s finding on liability and the amount of damages, and moved in the alternative for a new trial. The district court denied this motion.

Quicksilver appealed the district court’s final judgment and the denial of its post-trial motions. Blue Gordon cross-appealed the district court’s allegedly insufficient award of attorneys’ fees, as well as the district court’s order granting summary judgment for Quicksilver on Blue Gordon’s tort claims. Because we find that Quicksilver was entitled to judgment as a matter of law, we do not reach the issue of damages, nor do we address Blue Gordon’s cross-appeal on its attorneys’ fees. We affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Quicksilver on Blue Gordon’s tort claims.

DISCUSSION

I. Breach of Contract Claim

We review the district court’s denial of Quicksilver’s motion for judgment as a matter of law de novo. DP Solutions, Inc. v. Rollins, Inc., 858 F.3d 421, 427 (5th Cir.2003). Judgment as a matter of law is proper when “a party has been fully heard on an issue during a jury trial and the court finds that a reasonable jury would not have a legally sufficient evidentiary basis to find for the party on that issue.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a)(1); see Boeing Co. v. Shipman, 411 F.2d 365, 374 (5th Cir.1969) (en banc), overruled on other grounds by Gautreaux v. Scurlock Marine, Inc., 107 F.3d 331 (5th Cir.1997) (“If the facts and inferences point so strongly and overwhelmingly in favor of one party that the Court believes that reasonable men could *4 not arrive at a contrary verdict, granting of the motion[ ] is proper.”)- 1

Question One asked the jury: “Do you find, from a preponderance of the evidence, that Quicksilver wrongfully terminated and breached the contract on April 22, 2009?” The district court instructed the jury that the Agreement permitted Quicksilver to terminate the contract if the following three events occurred: (1) Blue Gordon failed to make one or more of its payments under the contract; (2) Quicksilver had given one or more notices of default identifying amounts owed by Blue Gordon; and (3) Blue Gordon failed to fully pay, within the time allowed under the contract, any one of the amounts identified in the notices of default.

The particular event that precipitated Quicksilver’s termination of the Agreement was Blue Gordon’s failure to cure a default of $58,637.45 in operating expenses. These expenses included flight expenses incurred in February and March 2009 and insurance charges for the period from the lease’s effective date until May 31, 2009. 2 The evidence was undisputed that: (1) Blue Gordon failed to make this payment; (2) Quicksilver gave Blue Gordon default notices identifying this amount owed; and (3) Blue Gordon failed to cure this default within the applicable ten-day cure period.

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Bluebook (online)
444 F. App'x 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blue-gordon-c-v-v-quicksilver-jet-sales-inc-ca5-2011.