Complete Medical Sales Inc v. Genoray America, Inc.

District Court, C.D. California·Decided October 12, 2021·No. 8:20-cv-01277·Unknown

Opinion

Case No. 8:20-cv-01277 COMPLETE MEDICAL SALES, FINDINGS OF FACT AND INC., CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

Plaintiff/Counter- Defendant,

v. GENORAY AMERICA INC.,

Defendant/Counter- Claimant.

This case principally involves the alleged breach of contract between a manufacturer of medical diagnostic equipment, Defendant and Counter-Complainant Genoray America, Inc. (Genoray), and its former distributor, Plaintiff and Counter- Defendant Complete Medical Sales, Inc. (CMS). Genoray has brought a counterclaim for breach of contract. The Court held a bench trial in this case. After evaluating the evidence at trial and weighing credibility, the Court issues the findings of fact and conclusions of law as set forth below. 1. Genoray is a manufacturer of a C-Arm, a medical imaging device, including the Zen-7000. CMS is a medical sales company. 2. On July 25, 2013, Genoray and CMS entered into a distribution agreement that gave CMS the exclusive right to distribute the Zen-7000 in the United States for a five-year term (Agreement). At the end of the original term, the parties agreed that the Agreement would be “reviewed” to consider an additional five-year term. In ruling on Genoray’s motion for partial summary judgment, this Court rejected CMS’s claim that the Agreement was subject to “automatic renewal.” Dkt. No. 78, at 6-7. The Agreement also allowed either party to terminate the Agreement in the event of a default that was not cured within 90 days of notice of the default. 3. The Agreement has two attachments, the letter of intent that preceded the Agreement and the dealer policy. The dealer policy specifies that all Genoray products are covered under a standard one-year limited warranty. “According to this policy, Genoray will provide parts and Dealer will provide labor to any customers who’s having trouble within [the] initial warranty period. Genoray will make effort to send all needed parts to Dealer via express shipping.” Ex. B to Agreement. “Dealer is responsible for collecting, repairing, and returning defective parts.” 4. The Agreement also contains an option provision that granted CMS “a first option to be the exclusive distributor for any subsequent generation or iterations of the [Zen-7000],” subject to certain terms and conditions. Genoray subsequently developed a C-arm that it called the “Oscar 15.” 5. After entering into the Agreement, the parties had a cooperative business relationship for most of the five-year term and attempted to amicably resolve issues that arose. Genoray periodically experienced issues with the Zen-7000 and sought to address them; and CMS regularly worked with Genoray to resolve the resulting problems to satisfy the affected customers. CMS experienced issues with meeting the sales volume commitments under the Agreement; and Genoray regularly worked with CMS to adjust those commitments or make other accommodations to allow for continued exclusivity. 6. In this lawsuit, CMS claims that Genoray breached the product warranty on 38 sales dating back to 2013. K. Orlando Decl. ¶¶ 153-419. CMS contends that these warranty breaches “crushed [its] business and irreparably harmed its reputation, eventually causing CMS to go out of business.” K. Orlando Decl. ¶ 451. For this claim of business destruction, CMS seeks: (a) unpaid wages for Tony and Kristin Orlando for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020 in the total amount of $809,237.96; (b) unreimbursed loans from the Orlandos to CMS in the amount of $1,312,244.62; (c) shipping and freight costs incurred by CMS between November 10, 2017 and April 9, 2020 in the amount of $175,323.94; (d) automobile expenses incurred by CMS between November 12, 2017 and March 30, 2020 in the amount of $10,960.40 and 25% of the automobile expenses incurred by CMS between January 2013 through December 2017 in the amount of $51,744.79, for a total of $62,705.19; (e) employee training costs for the period of June 6, 2018 through June 24, 2019 in the amount of $11,747.83; (f) commissions and fees paid to CMS salespersons C-Arm sales between January 5, 2017 and May 26, 2020 in the amount of $309,762.26; (g) advertising and marketing expenses between December 13, 2017 and March 19, 2020 in the amount of $6,736.17, 25% and advertising and marketing expenses between January 13, 2013 and December 2017 in the amount of $118,619.91; and (h) travel expenses between January 2013 and December 2017 in the amount of $92,088.02; and (i) parts warranties paid to Genoray in the amount of $460,000 on the theory that Genoray “did not honor the vast majority of the warranties.” K. Orlando Decl. ¶¶ 453-85. 7. In claiming more than $3.4 million in business expenses over a period of several years, CMS contends that it incurred these costs as a result of the breach of warranty on all 38 sales. CMS seeks consequential damages on a theory that requires a finding of breach of warranty with respect to each sale at issue. As its counsel conceded during closing argument, CMS did not provide damage evidence on a sale- by-sale basis, and there is no way for the Court to determine damages arising out of each purported breach.1 8. While there were admitted problems with the product at times, CMS has not demonstrated a breach with respect to all these sales. Genoray disputes the facts, and disclaims fault and responsibility, on many of the 38 sales. While Genoray was responsible for a number of the problems associated with the sales at issue, the Court does not find that CMS has demonstrated a breach in each instance. Indeed, CMS has fallen far short of such a showing: there were instances when Genoray was at fault and fixed the problem consistent with its obligations; and there were other instances when CMS or the customer was partially or wholly responsible. Thus, CMS has failed to demonstrate the claimed breaches. 9. The breach of warranty claim fails for another reason: CMS has not shown that the alleged breaches caused the broad scope of damages claimed in this lawsuit. The Court is not persuaded that the alleged breaches, even if accepted, caused the claimed damages. CMS has not convincingly shown that the alleged breaches “crushed” its business causing it to incur the extent of damages claimed. The evidence presented was exaggerated. Prior to the litigation, the parties had a cooperative relationship and worked together to solve customer problems irrespective of the party at fault (i.e., Genoray, CMS, or the customer). As Dave Orlando wrote in the fall of 2018, the CMS “Service Department works together with the Genoray service department handling customer complaints and finding resolutions.” Ex. 158, at 146. The Court finds that Genoray was generally responsive and tried to remedy the issues that arose and did not cause the extent of damages sought in this lawsuit.

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Complete Medical Sales Inc v. Genoray America, Inc., (C.D. Cal. 2021).

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