Overton Apparel, Inc. v. Russell Corp.

590 S.E.2d 260, 264 Ga. App. 306, 2003 Fulton County D. Rep. 3524, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 1471
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 24, 2003
DocketA03A1638
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 590 S.E.2d 260 (Overton Apparel, Inc. v. Russell Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Overton Apparel, Inc. v. Russell Corp., 590 S.E.2d 260, 264 Ga. App. 306, 2003 Fulton County D. Rep. 3524, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 1471 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Barnes, Judge.

Overton Apparel and L&H of California, plaintiffs below (collectively “Overton”), appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the Russell Corporation and Cross Creek Apparel (collectively “Russell”) on Overton’s complaint for breach of contract and quantum meruit. Russell is an apparel company specializing in sportswear. Overton Apparel and L&H of California are involved in sportswear manufacturing and sales.

The complaint alleged that Overton and Russell reached an agreement under which Overton would be granted an exclusive license for five years, with an option to extend, to market the Cross Creek brand by Russell and in return Overton would pay royalties to Russell as specified by the agreement. The complaint also alleged that Overton and Russell agreed that Overton would represent Cross Creek at a major trade show called MAGIC which would be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. According to the complaint, Overton represented Cross Creek at MAGIC to the benefit of Cross Creek and to the detriment to its own brands.

The complaint alleges that after the trade show, Russell stalled signing the agreement, attempted to renegotiate it, and then refused to comply with the licensing agreement. As a result, Overton was denied the past and future profits it was entitled to under the licensing agreement. In the alternative, Overton asserted that it was entitled to be paid the reasonable value of the services it rendered under the theory of quantum meruit. Overton also sought attorney fees and costs because Russell was stubbornly litigious and acted in bad faith.

Russell answered denying liability and, after discovery, moved for summary judgment. Russell contended that no legally binding agreement existed between the parties, and that Overton’s claims for lost future profits were not permitted under our law. Russell asserted that Overton understood that no binding agreement would exist until [307]*307the parties reached a final and definite license agreement, and that Overton had insisted on this provision.

The trial court found that the case concerned an alleged licensing agreement between Russell and Overton concerning the Cross Creek Apparel line, and that no written contract existed which was signed by the parties. The court found that, at best, there was a nonbinding letter of intent, proposed by the plaintiffs, which was never signed, and which contained the statement that the letter was not binding. The court further found that the license agreement was required to be in writing because it could not be performed within one year, OCGA § 13-5-30 (5), and that no evidence of part performance existed that would take the agreement from under the Statute of Frauds because the plaintiffs’ statement said that they would attend the MAGIC show with the understanding that “if we are unable to come to a final agreement that we will cancel goods or offer with an alternative label. There will be no funds transferred in either direction.” The trial court also found that Overton’s quantum meruit claims were not supported by the evidence because nothing showed that it had performed under the alleged contract.

Overton alleges that the trial court erred by granting summary judgment because (a) a writing exists that takes the agreement out of the Statute of Frauds, (b) Russell Corporation does not deny there was an agreement, and (c) sufficient part performance existed to take the agreement out of the Statute of Frauds. They also contend that the terms of the agreement were clearly stated and supported by the evidence, and the damages are certain, flow from the breach, and are capable of being proven at trial. They further contend that, in any event, the trial court should not have granted summary judgment on their claim for quantum meruit. Russell contends, however, that this is a case of disappointed expectations, and that at most the parties had merely agreed to reach an agreement and that such an agreement is unenforceable. We agree and affirm.

1. The standards applicable to motions for summary judgment are announced in Lau’s Corp. v. Haskins, 261 Ga. 491 (405 SE2d 474) (1991). When a trial court rules on a motion for summary judgment, the opposing party should be given the benefit of all reasonable doubt, and the court should construe the evidence and all inferences and conclusions therefrom most favorably toward the party opposing the motion. Moore v. Goldome Credit Corp., 187 Ga. App. 594, 595-596 (370 SE2d 843) (1988). On appeal of the grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment, this court conducts a de novo review of the law and the evidence. Desai v. Silver Dollar City, 229 Ga. App. 160, 163 (1) (493 SE2d 540) (1997). Further, contract disputes are particularly well suited for adjudication by summary judgment because construction of contracts is ordinarily a matter of law for the [308]*308court. Burns v. Reves, 217 Ga. App. 316, 318 (1) (457 SE2d 178) (1995).

2. “A contract is an agreement between two or more parties for the doing or not doing of some specified thing,” OCGA § 13-1-1, and the party asserting the existence of a contract has the burden of proving its existence and its terms. Jackson v. Easters, 190 Ga. App. 713, 714 (1) (379 SE2d 610) (1989). Therefore, Overton had the burden of establishing the existence of the agreement that it wished to rely upon.

Although Overton claims that an agreement was reached, the evidence, including the plain terms of the agreement Overton claims was reached, show that even if this were true, the agreement was not a binding contract. It is important to understand that when Overton alleges that an agreement was reached, it is not asserting that a final binding license agreement was reached. Instead, Overton contends that the agreement on the letter of intent was reached. In his deposition, Mr. Norwood, the president of Overton, testified:

Q: Is it your testimony that it was in that telephone conversation [on the afternoon of August 23] that you and Mr. Hoyle reached a, quote, final agreement?
A: Final agreement?
Q: Yes, sir.
A: No. What we agreed to were the terms of the letter of intent.
Q: So your testimony is that in the phone conversation on 4:30 or 5:00 in the afternoon, you agreed on the terms of the letter of intent?
A: That’s correct, and all the points that were part of that which is the text of a future agreement.

Contrary to the statements in the affidavit of Norwood, that Russell’s representative told him that they had an oral, final agreement, the deposition evidence, and particularly the draft letter of intent submitted the day after Overton alleges the agreement was reached, shows that no such agreement was reached. More significantly, the evidence shows that Overton understood that no agreement would be reached until the entire agreement had been approved by the parties, because Overton insisted on this provision.

In relevant part, the letter of intent states:

This letter is to serve as a non-binding letter of intent between Russell Corporation . . . and Cross Creek Apparel, Inc. . . . and L&H of California. . . .

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Bluebook (online)
590 S.E.2d 260, 264 Ga. App. 306, 2003 Fulton County D. Rep. 3524, 2003 Ga. App. LEXIS 1471, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/overton-apparel-inc-v-russell-corp-gactapp-2003.