Compagnia Importazioni Esportazioni Rappresentanze v. L-3 Communications Corp.

703 F. Supp. 2d 296, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25500, 2010 WL 995785
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 10, 2010
Docket06 Civ. 3157(NRB)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 703 F. Supp. 2d 296 (Compagnia Importazioni Esportazioni Rappresentanze v. L-3 Communications Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Compagnia Importazioni Esportazioni Rappresentanze v. L-3 Communications Corp., 703 F. Supp. 2d 296, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25500, 2010 WL 995785 (S.D.N.Y. 2010).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

NAOMI REICE BUCHWALD, District Judge.

Plaintiff Compagnia Importazioni Esportazioni Rappresentanze (“plaintiff’ or “CIER”) brought this suit against L-3 Communications Corporation d/b/a L-3 Communications Corporation, Ocean Systems Division (“defendant” or “L-30S”), alleging claims for declaratory relief, breach of contract, fraudulent concealment, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, quantum meruit, promissory estoppel, and for an accounting, arising out of L-30S’s alleged failure to pay CIER commissions earned pursuant to an International Representative Agreement signed in 2002. In an Order dated July 31, 2007, 2007 WL 2244062, this Court dismissed all but the breach of contract and declaratory judgment claims. Presently before the Court are the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment.

FACTS 1

1. Background

Plaintiff CIER is an Italian company that provides services including consulting, technical advising, and sales assistance for advanced military sonar equipment suppliers within Italy and the broader European defense market. CIER Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (“CIER SOF”) ¶ 1. CIER markets itself based on its extensive contacts within the Italian military and defense market, through which it promotes and sells the products of clients. See CIER SOF ¶ 19.

Defendant L-30S, a Delaware company and former client of CIER, is the current owner of the Ocean Systems (“OS”) business. First Amended Complaint, ¶ 3. CIER has served as the sales representative for the OS business since it was owned by Bendix, dating from at least 1983. L-30S Statement of Undisputed Material Facts (“L-3 SOF”) ¶ 3. These business dealings have involved a range of products over time. 2 By October 1985, Allied Signal *299 had acquired the OS business, becoming Allied Signal Ocean Systems (ASOS). ASOS continued the relationship with CIER. L-3 Communications Corporation’s Memorandum of Law on Cross-Motions for Summary Judgment (“L-3 Mem.”), 14; L-3 SOF ¶ 41; CIER Opp. ¶41. In March 1998 L-3 acquired the assets of the OS business from Allied Signal. L-3 Mem., 16. The resulting company, L-30S, is the defendant here. The OS business is the developer and producer of Helicopter Long Range Active Sonar (“HELRAS”). L-3 SOF ¶¶ 14-18. HELRAS is a dipping sonar system that is lowered from a helicopter into the ocean. The system transmits and receives signals that detect submarine targets. L-3 SOF ¶ 16; CIER SOF ¶ 4.

In the late 1970s, ASOS demonstrated HELRAS successfully for the Italian Navy in an effort to promote sales in Italy. L-30S SOF ¶¶ 18, 20. Subsequently, the Italian Navy became interested in pursuing production of a fleet of EH-101 helicopters with HELRAS dipping sonar technology. L-3 SOF ¶¶ 19, 20.

Between October 1985 and the period of time at issue here, CIER was engaged by L-30S and its predecessors to promote the HELRAS program under a series of Service and Consulting Agreements. L-3 SOF ¶ 3; CIER Opp. ¶ 3. Between 1985 and 1995, ASOS and CIER entered into a series of these agreements designed to compensate CIER for work promoting HELRAS to the Italian Navy, whereby CIER was paid $20,000 per quarter. L-3 SOF ¶¶ 35-37, 41. The Service Agreements were designed to compensate CIER for its role as the “eyes and ears” of ASOS in Italy and for its promotion of HELRAS. L-3 SOF ¶ 40. This mechanism of compensation was used because HELRAS was still in the developmental stage, so there were no products for CIER to sell on commission. Thus, while the Representative Agreements compensated CIER for sales made of various other products, the Service Agreements allowed CIER to be compensated for its work on HELRAS during the early stages of that program. L-3 SOF ¶¶ 46, 47.

During this period, CIER and L-30S first worked to promote HELRAS as the official selection by the Italian Navy for its EH-101 helicopters. CIER SOF ¶20. While they succeeded in convincing the Italians as to the value of the product, interest throughout the industry shifted from the EH-101 series of Italian helicopters to a smaller H-90 helicopter being developed under the auspices of NATO as part of a joint four nation program. L-3 SOF ¶ 21; CIER SOF ¶25. The four nation program was called the NATO Helicopter Management Agency (“NAHEMA”) and included representation from France, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. L-3 SOF ¶ 21; CIER SOF ¶ 27. The structure of the program was such that NAHEMA designated a joint venture called NH Industries S.A.S. (“NHI”) as the principal contractor for the program. NHI was composed of one contractor from each of the four representative countries. NHI was tasked with the design and production of the NH-90 helicopter program, a portion of which were to be equipped with long-range dipping sonar devices. The Italian representative to the joint venture, Agusta, was selected to lead the design and production of the platform technology for the helicopter’s sonar system. CIER SOF ¶ 30; L-3 Opp. ¶ 30.

HELRAS was one type of such dipping sonar, and thus CIER was retained by *300 ASOS to promote the selection of HEL-RAS for incorporation into this program. There were several obstacles to the fulfillment of this goal, however, including that (1) the HELRAS design was at the time too large to be used effectively on the NH-90 helicopters, and (2) the NAHEMA program required that the sonar equipment be purchased from a manufacturer within one of the four participant countries. L-3 SOF ¶ 22. In an effort to comply with the nationality requirements of the program, ASOS bought German manufacturing company ELAC Nautik Gmbh (“ELAC”), and CIER helped broker a joint venture between ASOS and Finmeccanica, an Italian manufacturing company. Id. ¶¶ 23, 24, 32. As negotiations continued, Finmeccanica became the prime contractor for the venture’s NH-90 bid, leaving ASOS as a subcontractor receiving only a portion of the business from the contract bid. Id. ¶¶ 24, 30; CIER SOF ¶ 49. The bid was eventually made with FIAR S.p.A., a subsidiary of Finmeccanica (which later became Galileo Avionica S.p.A. [“Galileo”]), ELAC, and a Dutch company called Fokker. L-3 SOF ¶ 25; CIER SOF ¶ 49; see also Certification of Anthony J. Marchetta (“Marchetta Cert.”), Exh. 16 (Manufacturing License and Technical Assistance Agreement between Allied Signal Inc. and FIAR, dated Nov. 18, 1996). Under the July 1, 1995 Service Agreement, CIER’s fee was increased to $50,000 per quarter due to the increased effort on their part to arrange the bid and procure the subcontract. L-3 SOF ¶¶ 42, 62.

In early November 1996, Agusta selected a different sonar producer for the NH-90 program. CIER SOF ¶ 32; L-3 SOF ¶ 53. This was obviously disappointing to ASOS. Thereafter the Italian Navy, 3 ASOS, and CIER began a campaign to reverse Agusta’s decision. L-3 SOF ¶ 54. There is some dispute as to exactly how that campaign transpired, but no one contests that CIER played a role in the efforts and that the decision was reversed in early 1998, when Agusta selected the bid led by Finmeccanica and including ELAC to supply the dipping sonar. L-3 SOF ¶¶ 54-58; CIER Opp. ¶¶ 54-58. L-3 purchased the OS business from ASOS in March of 1998, becoming L-30S.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
703 F. Supp. 2d 296, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25500, 2010 WL 995785, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/compagnia-importazioni-esportazioni-rappresentanze-v-l-3-communications-nysd-2010.