GQ Sand, LLC v. Range Management Systems, LLC

278 F. Supp. 3d 1115
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Wisconsin
DecidedSeptember 30, 2017
Docket15-cv-152-wmc
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 278 F. Supp. 3d 1115 (GQ Sand, LLC v. Range Management Systems, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
GQ Sand, LLC v. Range Management Systems, LLC, 278 F. Supp. 3d 1115 (W.D. Wis. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

WILLIAM M. CONLEY, District Judge

■ ■ A jury found in favor of plaintiff GQ Sand, LLC, on breach of contract and tortious, interference claims asserted against defendants Range Management Systems, LLC- (“RMS”) and NEJGID, LLC, and awarded total damages of $934,400. (Dkt. ##285, 286.) After accounting for the amount plaintiff received from a settling defendant, the court entered final judgment in its favor. (Dkt. # 289.) Before the court are a number of post-judgment motions. In the first motion, defendants move for judgment as a matter of law under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 50(b) and for a new trial under Rule 59. (Dkt. # 303.) That motion will be denied in its entirety because the court finds that (1) defendants waived certain of these challenges by failing to raise them in a Rule 50(a) ‘ motion; and (2) as to those challenges that were preserved, the jury’s verdict is supported by a sufficient eviden-tiary basis.

In the second motion, plaintiff seeks an order holding defendants and their counsel in civil contempt based on defendants’ disclosed- confidential information subject to the court’s protective order to third parties and used that information for a purpose unrelated to this litigation. (Dkt. # 330.) While the court finds that defendants’ sole member; Cody Lyon, and defendants’ pounsel, Attorney Kolten Jennings with the law firm Puls Haney, PLLC, violated the court’s protective order, it is uncertain whether GQ Sand suffered any loss. Whether plaintiff was actually injured by the disclosures ends up being a moot issue, since the relief that plaintiff seeks is the same as that requested in its own motion to alter or amend the judgment, asking that the court not reduce the judgment by any anticipated payment by the settling defendant with an assignment of a credit, since both the assignment itself and the amount of any assignment remain uncertain. (Dkt. # 290.) For the court will grant this motion, finding that since the court was apparently mistaken in reducing the jury’s award of damages for tortious interference with the Sand Supply Agreement in light of the uncertainty of that payment, the court will grant both of plaintiffs motion and the requested relief in the form of entry of the corrected amount as reflected in the order below.

Finally, plaintiffs move for attorneys’ fees as contemplated under the Rail Delivery Agreement and costs for the prevailing party. (Dkt. ## 293, 294.) Having found defendant Range Management Systems breached that agreement, the court will grant that motion as well, including supplementing the award to reflect fees accrued post-judgment. (See dkt. # 353.) Re-latedly, plaintiffs unopposed bill of costs is [1119]*1119well-documented and limited to approved categories of expenses. Accordingly, the court will further award plaintiff its costs against both defendants.

BACKGROUND1

Plaintiff GQ Sand brought this civil action against defendants Conley Bulk Services, LLC, RMS and NEJGID, arising out of a multi-million dollar frac sand deal gone awry. All defendants in turn filed counterclaims against plaintiff, while NEJGID also asserted a cross-claim against Conley. The parties’ disputes involve two, core agreements: a Sand Supply Agreement (“Supply Agreement” or “SSA”) between GQ Sand and Conley; and a Rail Delivery Agreement (“Delivery Agreement” or “RDA”) between GQ Sand and RMS. NEJGID’s manager Carl Hud-speth played an intermediary role in establishing the Supply Agreement. Then at some point in 2015, after the events at issue in this action, RMS’s sole member, Cody Lyon,- purchased NEJGID - from Hudspeth. In addition to the breach of contract claims, plaintiff also asserted various tortious interference with a contract claims and a civil conspiracy claim.

On the eve of trial, Conley and GQ Sand settled their cross-claims, leaving only plaintiff GQ Sand’s' claims against defendants NEJGID and RMS. At trial, the jury returned a liability verdict in favor of GQ Sand, finding that defendant RMS breached the Delivery Agreement (or RDA) and tortiously interfered with both the Supply Agreement (or SSA), and that NEGJID tortiously interfered with both agreements. (Liability Verdict (dkt. # 285).) After the damage phase, the jury further awarded plaintiff: $45,000 in compensatory damages against RMS for breach of contract, $772,200 in compensatory damages against both defendants for tortious interference with the SSA, and $77,200 in compensatory damages against NEJGID for tortious interference with the RDA. (Damages Verdict (dkt. # 286).)

OPINION

I. Defendants NEJGID and RMS’s Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law (dkt. # 303)

Under Rule 50, judgment may be granted as a matter of law where there is no “legally sufficient evidentiary basis” to uphold- the jury’s verdict on that issue. Fed. R. Civ. P. 50(a). In reviewing a Rule 50 motion, the court will “examine the evidence presented, combined with any reasonably drawn inferences, and determine whether that evidence sufficiently supports the verdict when viewed .in the light most favorable to the non-moving party,” which, in this case, is the plaintiff GQ Sand. E.E.O.C. v. AutoZone, Inc., 707 F.3d 824, 835 (7th Cir. 2013).

In particular, the court will, not make credibility determinations or weigh the evidence. Rather, the court must assure that more than “a mere scintilla of evidence” supports the verdict, Hossack v. Floor Covering Assocs. of Joliet, Inc., 492 F.3d 853, 859 (7th Cir. 2007). reversing “only if no rational jury could have found for the prevailing party.” AutoZone, Inc., 707 F.3d at 835. Moreover, “[bjecause the Rule 50(b) motion is only a renewal of the preverdict motion, it can be granted only on grounds advanced in the preverdict motion.” Wallace v. McGlothan, 606 F.3d 410, 418 (7th Cir. 2010); see also Thompson v. Mem’l Hosp. of Carbondale, 625 F.3d 394, 407 (7th Cir. 2010) (refusing to consider the defendant’s argument that plaintiff [1120]*1120failed to demonstrate that he suffered an adverse employment action, in part, because the defendant did not raise argument in Rule 50(a) motion); Fed. R. Civ. P. 50 cmt. 1991 Amendments (“A post-trial motion for judgment can be granted only oh grounds advanced in the pre-verdict motion.”).

Defendants also move for a new trial under Rule 59, which “may be granted only if the jury’s verdict is against the manifest weight of the evidence.” King v. Harrington, 447 F.3d 531, 534 (7th Cir. 2006) (citing ABM Marking, Inc. v. Zanasi Fratelli, S.R.L., 353 F.3d 541, 545 (7th Cir. 2003)).

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278 F. Supp. 3d 1115, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gq-sand-llc-v-range-management-systems-llc-wiwd-2017.