Gross v. Diehl Specialties International, Inc.

870 S.W.2d 246, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 234, 1994 WL 41304
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 15, 1994
DocketNo. 63299
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 870 S.W.2d 246 (Gross v. Diehl Specialties International, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gross v. Diehl Specialties International, Inc., 870 S.W.2d 246, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 234, 1994 WL 41304 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

GRIMM, Presiding Judge.

In this court-tried breach of contract case, plaintiff Gross appeals from a judgment in favor of defendant Diehl Specialties. This appeal follows remand from Gross v. Diehl Spec. Int’l., Inc., 776 S.W.2d 879 (Mo.App.E.D.1989). We reverse and remand.

Plaintiff raises five points on appeal. They revolve around the trial court’s findings that plaintiff: (1) did not invent certain products, (2) had no ownership interest in those products, and (3) was not entitled to any damages.

I. Background

The detailed background facts are set forth in Gross. Suffice to say, the trial court had found that a 1982 employment contract was the operative contract between the parties. However, we held that there was no consideration for that contract, and that the parties were bound by a 1977 contract. Id. at 888-84.

The 1977 contract provided that during its fifteen-year term, plaintiff’s “inventions and formulae shall be owned equally by both Company and [plaintiff].” Also, it stated upon its expiration, “ownership of all formu-lae and inventions shall revert to [plaintiff].”

Further, it provided for payment of royalties to plaintiff “for the use of each of his inventions and formulae used by the Company, whether created ... before or after the date when [plaintiff] commenced work for the Company.” During the contract period, plaintiff was to receive “[o]ne percent (1%) of the selling price of all the products produced by Company using ... [plaintiffs] inventions and/or formula.” Following the contract period, the royalty increased to “two percent (2%) of the selling price of all such products.”

This court’s holding in Gross required us to reverse and remand. The trial court was directed to hold “further proceedings to determine the formulae for which plaintiff is entitled to royalties from defendant and the amount thereof.” Id. at 884. On remand, the trial court entered judgment for defendant.

II. Ownership of Formulae

For his first point, plaintiff alleges the trial court erred in finding “that ‘[1] plaintiff did not invent Vitamite and Chocomite and does not have any ownership interest in these products’ and that [2] he did not ‘develop any products or formulaes’.... ” He contends these conclusions are: (1) against the “law of the case,” (2) against the weight of the evidence and erroneously apply the law because defendant judicially admitted these products were plaintiffs formulae, and (3) ignored defendant’s admissions that plaintiff developed the formulas for Vitamite and Chocomite.

Our review of this case is pursuant to Rule 73.01(e) and governed by the standard of Murphy v. Carron, 536 S.W.2d 30, 32 (Mo.banc 1976). Further, “conflicts in evidence are for the trial court to resolve and we take the facts in accordance with the results there reached.” In re Estate of Bollier, 684 S.W.2d 67, 69 (Mo.App.E.D.1984). However, “[d]eference to the trial court’s findings is not required ... where the evidence is not in conflict.” Epperson v. Director of Revenue, 841 S.W.2d 252, 255 (Mo.App.W.D.1992).

The evidence conflicted as to the development of some products. Plaintiff testified that he either developed, or assisted in the development, of eleven products. Those products are Vitamite, Chocomite, Chocomite with Vitamins, Choc-O-Cream, Shake-O-[249]*249Mix, E’ze Fre’ze Vanilla, E’ze Fre’ze Chocolate, E’ze Fre’ze Strawberry, Party Nogg, Sunfruit Big Apple and Slush Puppie.

In contrast, defendant presented the testimony of a former research and development employee. He testified that he developed six of those products: Choc-O-Creme, the Sun-finit Brands which includes Big Apple, E’ze Fre’ze vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, and the Shake-O-Mix Stabilizer. Also, although Employee did not mention Slush Puppie, defendant’s president credited Employee with its development. Thus, conflicting evidence exists concerning the development of those seven products. Therefore, we defer to the trial court’s determination that plaintiff has no ownership claim in them.

An eighth product was Party Nogg (without whey). While Employee testified that he developed Party Nogg with whey, he did not mention the development of Party Nogg without whey. However, one of defendant’s exhibits indicates that there were “no sales since 1984” of Party Nogg without whey. Thus, regardless of who developed it, plaintiff is not entitled to any royalties.

Three products remain: Vitamite, Chocomite, and Chocomite with Vitamins. Defendant did not present any evidence refuting plaintiffs claim to their ownership. On the contrary, Employee testified that these products were in existence prior to his employment. Also, defendant’s president, when asked about defendant’s present formulas, admitted that most of them were plaintiffs “formulae to start with.”

Further, defendant’s chairman acknowledged that the predecessor corporation was paying plaintiff “one percent on all the company’s sales of all their formulas, inventions and blending.” Defendant’s chairman was then asked:

Q. So [predecessor’s president], who is in the best position to know who had developed those formulas and inventions, credited [plaintiff] with their development, did he not, sir?
A. It would appear that way.

Consequently, we conclude that the record does not support the trial court’s findings that: (1) “Plaintiff did not invent Vitam-ite and Chocomite and does not have any ownership interest in these products” and (2) he did not “develop any products or formu-lae.” These findings are contrary to the evidence adduced at trial.

In addition, these findings appear to conflict with Gross. There, we stated that as to Vitamite, “Plaintiff successfully reformulated the product.” Id. 776 S.W.2d at 881. Also, we said that plaintiff formulated “a chocolate flavored product ... called Chocolite.”

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Bluebook (online)
870 S.W.2d 246, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 234, 1994 WL 41304, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gross-v-diehl-specialties-international-inc-moctapp-1994.