Cambria Company LLC v. Disney Worldwide Services, Inc.

CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedMarch 12, 2025
Docket0:22-cv-00459
StatusUnknown

This text of Cambria Company LLC v. Disney Worldwide Services, Inc. (Cambria Company LLC v. Disney Worldwide Services, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cambria Company LLC v. Disney Worldwide Services, Inc., (mnd 2025).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA CAMBRIA COMPANY LLC, Civil No. 22-459 (JRT/JFD) Plaintiff,

v. MEMORADUM OPINION AND ORDER ON DISNEY WORLDWIDE SERVICES, INC., CROSS-MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DAUBERT MOTIONS Defendant.

Bryan R. Freeman and Jeremy Krahn, MASLON LLP, 225 South Sixth Street, Suite 2900, Minneapolis, MN 55402, for Plaintiff.

Farah N. Famouri and Sybil L. Dunlop, GREENE ESPEL PLLP, 222 South Ninth Street, Suite 2200, Minneapolis, MN 55402, for Defendant.

Plaintiff Cambria Company LLC (“Cambria”) agreed to supply Defendant Disney WorldWide Services, Inc. (“Disney”) with quartz slabs for Disney’s renovation projects. After the parties entered into a global agreement, they executed individual purchase agreements. Most of those purchase agreements did not contemplate payment of transportation costs. Because the purchase agreements serve as the final agreement between the parties, those terms govern. Under those terms, Disney is not liable for freight costs but is liable for A-frame costs included in the purchase agreements.1 The

1 An A-frame is a necessary structure to transport quartz slabs on trucks. (Decl. of Kristin Skelley ¶ 4, Aug. 5, 2024, Docket No. 139.) conflicting expert opinions will be excluded but only to the extent they do not align with the Court’s determination on liability.

BACKGROUND I. FACTS Cambria and Disney entered into a blanket purchase agreement entitled the Quartz Master Agreement (“Agreement”) on April 14, 2016, for Cambria to supply Disney

with quartz countertops. (Decl. of Bryan Freeman (“Freeman Decl.”) ¶ 2, Ex. A (“Agreement”) at 1, Aug. 5, 2024, Docket No. 135.) After entering into the Agreement, Disney issued seven purchase orders for quartz slabs and two open purchase orders for A-frames. (Decl. of Anna M. Tobin (“Tobin Decl.”) ¶ 3, Exs. H–P (“Purchase Orders H–P”),

Aug. 5, 2024, Docket No. 126.) Cambria alleges that it has fully performed on the purchase orders but is still owed approximately $500,000 in transportation costs and unpaid product invoices. (Compl. ¶¶ 20–21, Feb. 18, 2022, Docket No. 1.) Disney claims that it has paid all invoices in full. (Decl. of Sybil L. Dunlop (“2nd Dunlop Decl.”) ¶ 2, Ex. 3 (“Porter

Report”) at 9,2 Aug. 5, 2024, Docket No. 115.) In the Agreement, the parties agreed to prices, including freight, as described in Attachment A of the Agreement. (Agreement ¶¶ 5, 8.) The parties further agreed that those prices governed unless the parties agreed to different pricing in writing. (Id. ¶ 5.)

2 All citations are to ECF pagination. In addition to the prices, Attachment A described Cambria’s rebate program. The rebate program provided that if Disney exceeded an annual volume of 100,000 square

feet in total spend, Cambria would rebate 5%. (Id at 8.) Total spend was to be calculated using payments received by Disney and all its worldwide affiliates. (Id.) Cambria was required to provide Disney with an annual receivables report detailing the total spend. (Id.)

The Agreement also included an integration clause. The integration clause stated that the Agreement would supersede any “previous and contemporaneous communications, agreements, and representations, whether oral or written.” (Id. ¶ 20.)

But the integration clause also expressly incorporated the attached “Purchase Order Terms and Conditions” and future purchase orders. (Id.) After entering into the Agreement, the parties began negotiating a potential bulk truckload discount. In August 2016, Disney and Cambria representatives met in person.

(Freeman Decl. ¶ 15, 21, Ex. N (“Sprague Dep.”) at 149:10–17, Ex. T at 3.) After the meeting, Cambria employee Courtney Bliss internally emailed notes about the meeting describing Disney’s interest in the truckload discount. (Freeman Decl. ¶ 21, Ex. T at 4–6.) Specifically, Bliss wrote, “This 2 dollar a sq ft saving on material plus added in cost of

freight and A Frame rental was appealing.” (Id. at 4.) Internal Cambria emails discuss anticipated trucking prices of between $4,500– $5,000, A-frame costs and logistics for returning or reusing A-frames, and Disney’s responsibility for the freight costs. (Tobin Decl. ¶ 4, Ex. T at 3–4; Freeman Decl. ¶ 44, Ex. QQ at 161; Opp. Decl. of Brian Freeman (“Opp. Freeman Decl.”) ¶¶ 3–4, Exs. UU, VV, Aug.

26, 2024, Docket No. 147.) Communications between Disney and Cambria corroborated the negotiations found in Cambria’s internal emails. Cambria sent a purchase order for Disney’s approval that indicated freight costs would be added to the invoice. (Opp. Freeman Decl. ¶ 5, Ex.

WW.) Disney representatives and Cambria also exchanged emails confirming shipping costs per truck. (Freeman Decl. ¶¶ 22–23, Ex. U at 107–110, Ex. V. at 114.) Cambria further offered a flat fee for A-frames so that Disney could easily include those costs on a

purchase order. (Id. ¶ 23, Ex. V. at 114.) From September 2016 to July 2017, Disney ordered quartz from Cambria on seven separate purchase orders. (Purchase Orders H–L, N–O.) Only two purchase orders included a specific cost for freight charges. (Purchase Order H at 3; Purchase Order O at

4–5.) Disney also issued two open purchase orders for A-frames and requested that Cambria bill those costs separately. (Purchase Orders M, P; Freeman Decl. ¶¶ 27–29, Exs. Z, AA, BB; Sprague Dep. at 167:14–17.) Over the course of the business relationship, Cambria supplied Disney with more

than 5,000 quartz slabs. (Skelley Decl. ¶ 13, Ex. 6 at 8.) Disney paid Cambria for many invoices, but Cambria claims it is owed around $250,000 for unpaid freight and A-frame costs. (Pl.’s Mot. Supp. Mot. Summ. J. at 10, Aug. 5, 2024, Docket No. 134.) Cambria issued Disney one rebate in September 2017 in the amount of $202,196.18. (Skelley Decl. ¶ 12, Ex. 3.) Cambria did not provide Disney with any other annual receivable reports or

any other rebates. (Id.; Pl.’s Reply Mem. Supp. Mot. Summ. J. at 19, Sept. 16, 2024, Docket No. 160.) II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY Cambria filed this action on February 18, 2022, bringing four contract-related

claims: breach of contract, unjust enrichment, accounts stated, and promissory estoppel. (Compl. ¶¶ 47–71.) Cambria seeks more than $500,000 for unpaid product charges, freight costs, and A-frame costs. (Id.) Disney moved to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, and the Court denied the motion after finding sufficient contacts to

Minnesota. (Mot. Dismiss, June 3, 2022, Docket No. 17; Mem. Op. & Order Denying Mot. Dismiss, Jan. 17, 2023, Docket No. 39.) Disney then answered and asserted two counterclaims: breach of contract and demand for an accounting. (Answer ¶¶ 24–30,

Feb. 9, 2023, Docket No. 52.) The Magistrate Judge issued a scheduling order that staggered disclosure of experts. (Scheduling Order at 2, Mar. 29, 2023, Docket No. 59.) Cambria elected not to engage an initial expert. (Decl. of Bryan Freeman, Ex. B, Feb. 28, 2024, Docket No. 84.)

Notwithstanding the lack of an initial expert, Disney retained a rebuttal expert, Meghan D. Porter. (Decl. of Sybil L. Dunlop (“1st Dunlop Decl.”) ¶ 1, Mar. 6, 2024, Docket No. 91.) Cambria moved to exclude or strike Porter’s report because under the plain terms of the scheduling order, without an initial expert, there could be no rebuttal. (Mot. Exclude Expert Test. Meghan D. Porter, Feb. 28, 2024, Docket No. 81, Mem. Supp. at 5, Feb. 28, 2024, Docket No. 83.) The Magistrate Judge declined to exclude or strike the expert

report but allowed Cambria to file a surrebuttal expert. (Min. Entry, Mar. 14, 2024, Docket No. 94.) Cambria disclosed an internal employee and fact witness, Shannon Shindelar, as its surrebuttal expert witness. (2nd Dunlop Decl. ¶ 2, Ex. 5 (“Shindelar Report”).) Both parties then moved to exclude the other’s expert under Fed. R. Evid.

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