Land O'Lakes, Inc. v. Bray

69 P.3d 1078, 138 Idaho 817, 2003 Ida. App. LEXIS 44
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 2, 2003
DocketNo. 28531
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 69 P.3d 1078 (Land O'Lakes, Inc. v. Bray) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Land O'Lakes, Inc. v. Bray, 69 P.3d 1078, 138 Idaho 817, 2003 Ida. App. LEXIS 44 (Idaho Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

LANSING, Chief Judge.

Defendants Gene and Beverly Bray appeal the order of the district court granting plaintiff Land O’Lakes’ (LOL’s) motion for summary judgment. We conclude that the district court erred by resolving factual issues and questions of credibility on summary judgment, and we therefore reverse.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Land O’Lakes filed a complaint against the Brays seeking a money judgment in the amount of $107,078.62, for sums allegedly owed by the Brays on a promissory note and an open account. Shortly after service of the complaint, the Brays sent LOL a payment in the amount of $41,860.00. The Brays then filed an answer denying the allegation that they owed further sums. LOL filed a motion for summary judgment, to which the Brays responded with affidavits disputing LOL’s claims.

The evidence presented to the district court on the summary judgment motion shows that from 1993 through August 2001, the Brays owned and operated a calf-raising business. During this time, they purchased calf feed from LOL on open account. In 1997, a dispute arose between the parties regarding the amount owed on the account. This dispute was eventually resolved, and the account balance was transferred to a promissory note. After the execution of the note, the open account remained available to the Brays, and LOL continued to deliver feed, charging it to that account. The Brays were to pay the account charges in full on a monthly basis in addition to making periodic payments on the note.

In late 1997, the Brays again questioned the amount that LOL was claiming to be due on the open account. As a result of the Brays’ concerns, a representative of LOL, Vivian Barwell, corresponded with them, outlining the account balance and explaining how payments had been applied. Barwell also met with the Brays to discuss the amount due and, according to her affidavit, Barwell left that meeting under the assumption that the Brays understood and agreed with the amount claimed by LOL. An affidavit submitted by the Brays, on the other hand, said that the issues concerning the accuracy of the accounting were not resolved by their meeting with Barwell and that they had never agreed with the amount claimed by LOL. After this meeting, the Brays and LOL continued to do business, and there was no further correspondence ¡from the Brays to Barwell questioning the open account charges. The Brays’ affidavit asserted, however, that they continued to inform an LOL sales representative, on several occasions, that they considered LOL’s invoices to include charges for deliveries that were never made. Between October 1999 and August 2000, the Brays wrote three letters to Bar-well informing her of financial difficulties they were experiencing and seeking a forbearance from LOL.

Upon consideration of the foregoing evidence, the district court granted LOL’s motion for summary judgment. Despite the Brays’ assertion that they had not agreed with LOL’s accounting, the court determined that the Brays’ failure to object in writing to the monthly LOL invoices, their continuing to do business with LOL for a period of nearly three years after their meeting with Barwell, and the absence of any challenge to the account charges in the Brays’ letters requesting forbearance, all supported an inference that the Brays did not sincerely dispute the amount of the obligation. On this basis, the district court concluded that there was no genuine issue of material fact and granted LOL’s summary judgment motion. The Brays filed a motion to alter or amend the judgment and a motion to file a supplemental affidavit, both of which were denied. They now appeal.

II.

ANALYSIS

Summary judgment under Idaho Rule of Civil Procedure 56(e) is appropriate if the evidence before the court discloses no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Summary judgment is impermissible [819]*819when there is a conflict in the evidence respecting material issues of fact or when the evidence raises a question of the credibility of witnesses. Wait v. Leavell Cattle, Inc., 136 Idaho 792, 798, 41 P.3d 220, 226 (2001); First Sec. Bank of Idaho, N.A. v. Murphy, 131 Idaho 787, 792, 964 P.2d 654, 659 (1998); Hines v. Hines, 129 Idaho 847, 853, 934 P.2d 20, 26 (1997); Straley v. Idaho Nuclear Corp., 94 Idaho 917, 918-19, 500 P.2d 218, 219-20 (1972). The burden of proving the absence of material factual issues is upon the moving party. Thomson v. City of Lewiston, 137 Idaho 473, 476, 50 P.3d 488, 491 (2002); Baxter v. Craney, 135 Idaho 166, 170,16 P.3d 263, 267 (2000); Evans v. Griswold, 129 Idaho 902, 905, 935 P.2d 165, 168 (1997). When a motion for summary judgment is made in a case that would otherwise be tried to a jury, the court must draw all reasonable inferences supported by the evidence in favor of the party resisting the motion. Mastrangelo v. Sandstrom, Inc., 137 Idaho 844, 846, 55 P.3d 298, 300 (2002); G & M Farms v. Funk Irrigation Co., 119 Idaho 514, 517, 808 P.2d 851, 854 (1991); Sanders v. Kuna Joint School Dist., 125 Idaho 872, 874, 876 P.2d 154, 156 (Ct.App.1994); Burgess Farms v. New Hampshire Ins. Group, 108 Idaho 831, 835, 702 P.2d 869, 873 (Ct.App.1985). Therefore, where a jury has been requested, even where there exists no direct conflict in the evidence, a summary judgment motion must be denied “if the evidence is such that conflicting inferences may be drawn therefrom, and if reasonable people might reach different conclusions.” Olsen v. J.A Freeman Co., 117 Idaho 706, 720, 791 P.2d 1285, 1299 (1990).

When an action is to be tried without a jury, however, the court is not compelled to draw inferences in favor of the party opposing the motion; rather, the court is “free to arrive at the most probable inferences to be drawn from uncontroverted evidentiary facts.” Loomis v. City of Hailey, 119 Idaho 434, 437, 807 P.2d 1272, 1275 (1991); Argyle v. Slemaker, 107 Idaho 668, 670, 691 P.2d 1283, 1285 (Ct.App.1984). For example, in Drew v. Sorensen, 133 Idaho 534, 540, 989 P.2d 276

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Bluebook (online)
69 P.3d 1078, 138 Idaho 817, 2003 Ida. App. LEXIS 44, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/land-olakes-inc-v-bray-idahoctapp-2003.