Creghan v. Procura Management, Inc.

91 F. Supp. 3d 631, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28220, 2015 WL 1033798
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 9, 2015
DocketCivil Action No. 14-1847
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 91 F. Supp. 3d 631 (Creghan v. Procura Management, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Creghan v. Procura Management, Inc., 91 F. Supp. 3d 631, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28220, 2015 WL 1033798 (E.D. Pa. 2015).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

DALZELL, District Judge.

Michael Creghan sued Procura Management, Inc. (“Procura”) seeking sales com[634]*634missions on business he claims to have originated for Procura under the parties’ oral agreement. Procura counterclaimed that Creghan violated a non-disclosure, non-solicitation agreement by consulting for a Procura competitor and contends it owes Creghan nothing.

Before us are cross-motions for summary judgment. Creghan has filed a motion for summary judgment as to Procura’s counterclaim and Procura moves for summary judgment or, in the alternative, partial summary judgment as to the agreement and Creghan’s breach of contract claim.1 For the reasons detailed below, we will deny Creghan’s motion. We will grant Procura’s motion in part and deny it in part.

We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332 because Creghan is a Maryland resident and Procura is a Delaware corporation with corporate offices in Nor-ristown, Pennsylvania. Creghan’s claim for about $4.6 million in commissions amply satisfies the amount in controversy requirement.

I. Legal Standard

Summary judgment is appropriate if there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R.Civ.P. 56(a). A party moving for summary judgment bears the burden of proving no genuine issue of material fact exists. Matsushita Elec. Indus. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., 475 U.S. 574, 586 n. 10, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986). To that end, the movant must inform the district court of the basis for its argument by “identifying those portions of ‘the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any,’ which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 323, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986). Where the movant is the defendant or the party that does not have the burden of proof on the underlying claim, it “has no obligation to produce evidence negating its opponent’s case,” National State Bank v. Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 979 F.2d 1579, 1582 (3d Cir.1992). The movant need only point to the lack of evidence supporting the non-movant’s claim. Id.

The reviewing court should view the facts in the light most favorable to the non-moving party and draw all reasonable inferences in that party’s favor. Scheidemantle v. Slippery Rock Univ. State Sys. of Higher Educ., 470 F.3d 535, 538 (3d Cir.2006). We must resolve all doubts in favor of the non-moving party. Woodside v. Sch. Dist. of Phila. Bd. of Educ., 248 F.3d 129, 130 (3d Cir.2001). A factual dispute is “genuine” if it turns on “evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the plaintiff.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). A fact is “material” if it “might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law.” Id. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505. That is, “only disputes over facts that might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law will properly preclude” summary judgment. Boyle v. County of Allegheny [635]*635Pennsylvania, 139 F.3d 386, 393 (3d Cir.1998) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505). The court’s function is not to make credibility determinations, weigh evidence, or draw inferences from the facts. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505.

When both parties move for summary judgment, our task is no different. As our Court of Appeals has cautioned,

Cross-motions are no more than a claim by each side that it alone is entitled to summary judgment, and the making of such inherently contradictory claims does not constitute an agreement that if one is rejected the other is necessarily justified or that the losing party waives judicial consideration and determination whether genuine issues of material fact exist. If any such issue exists it must be disposed of by a plenary trial and not on summary judgment.

Rains v. Cascade Industries. Inc., 402 F.2d 241, 245 (3d Cir.1968).

Cross-motions must be considered separately and should not be interpreted necessarily to mean that judgment should be entered on either one of them. Each party, as a movant for summary judgment, bears the burden of establishing that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that he is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. 10A Charles Alan Wright and Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice & Procedure. § 2720 (3d ed.2014). As in any summary judgment motion, the determination whether a genuine issue concerning a material fact exists is itself a question of law that the Court must decide. It does not depend upon what either or both of the parties may have thought about the matter. A party moving for summary judgment concedes the absence of a factual issue and the truth of the non-moving party’s allegations only for purposes of his own motion. Id. As Wright and Miller observe, “It follows that the legal theories the movant advances in support of a Rule 56 motion and the assertion that there is no issue of material fact may not be used against the movant when the court rules on his adversary’s motion.” Id.

It is well-established that Rule 56 obliges the non-moving party “to go beyond the pleadings and by her own affidavits, or by the ‘depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,’ designate ‘specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.’ ” Celotex, 477 U.S. at 324, 106 S.Ct. 2548; see also Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). To prevail on a motion for summary judgment, “the non-moving party must present more than a mere scintilla of evidence; ‘there must be evidence on which the jury could reasonably find for the [non-movant].’ ” S.H. ex rel. Durrell v. Lower Merion School Dist., 729 F.3d 248, 256 (3d Cir.2013) (quoting Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252, 106 S.Ct. 2505) (internal citation omitted).

If the non-moving party fails to make a sufficient showing on an essential element of its case on which it has the burden of proof, the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. See Celotex, 477 U.S. at 322, 106 S.Ct. 2548. Specifically, Fed.R.Civ.P.

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91 F. Supp. 3d 631, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28220, 2015 WL 1033798, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/creghan-v-procura-management-inc-paed-2015.