Schwartz v. iFreedom Direct Corporation

400 F. App'x 376
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedOctober 29, 2010
Docket10-2017
StatusUnpublished

This text of 400 F. App'x 376 (Schwartz v. iFreedom Direct Corporation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schwartz v. iFreedom Direct Corporation, 400 F. App'x 376 (10th Cir. 2010).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT **

CARLOS F. LUCERO, Circuit Judge.

Jean-Georges Schwartz appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment for the Appellees on his claims of fraud in the inducement, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and rescission. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.

I

Schwartz, a resident of France, is a businessman who owns 90% of the company Four Js Development. Brent Hansen and Kevin Gates are managers in a mortgage company called iFreedom Direct Corporation (“iFreedom”), which was formerly known as New Freedom Mortgage Corporation (“New Freedom”).

On September 24, 2002, New Freedom entered into a deposit agreement (“Deposit Agreement”) with Eclipse Aviation. New Freedom deposited $97,500 with Eclipse to “secure[ ] a delivery position for one Eclipse 500 jet,” which was to be manufactured. The $97,500 was to be applied to the purchase of the jet pursuant to an Eclipse 500 Purchase Agreement.

In January 2007, Schwartz sent an email inquiry to Greg Oswald, a sales representative for Eclipse, inquiring about ordering an Eclipse 500. Oswald informed Schwartz that if he placed a deposit on January 18, 2007, he could expect delivery of an aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2008. At the time, the price of the aircraft was $1,520,000, plus an inflation adjustment, which was tied into the U.S. Consumer Price Index (“CPI”), and the cost of options.

At around this time, Defendants decided to sell New Freedom’s rights under the Deposit Agreement and advertised their *378 intent. On January 28, 2007, Schwartz contacted Hansen to inquire about the terms of purchasing the Deposit Agreement with Eclipse, in order to assume New Freedom’s position in the manufacturing line.

On January 24, 2007, Hansen emailed Schwartz and informed him that New Freedom would sell its position for $300,-000 — a $202,500 premium over the amount New Freedom had paid. Hansen also informed Schwartz that the price of the aircraft to be delivered by Eclipse was projected to be $1,271,000 (before options), plus an inflation adjustment per the Deposit Agreement, which was tied to the CPI. Hansen further informed Schwartz that Eclipse had advised him that the approximate delivery date of the aircraft would be in March 2008.

The same day, Hansen sent an email message to Schwartz and attached a draft of an “Assignment, Consent and Acknowl-edgement — Deposit Agreement” (“Assignment”) from Eclipse as well as an email message showing the cost calculation. On January 25, Hansen sent an email message to Schwartz and attached copies of the Assignment, the Deposit Agreement, an operating cost comparison sheet, and two certificates that New Freedom had received from Eclipse for Schwartz’s review and comment. On January 26, Schwartz responded to Defendant Hansen’s email message and stated: “After having quickly reviewed your document I saw Chapter 4 section 16 that you can’t assign or transfer your Agreement. Could you clarify? Thanks.”

The same day, Lori Medrano, an attorney with Eclipse, sent an email message to Schwartz and consented to New Freedom’s assignment to Schwartz. Medrano also attached a copy of the Assignment to her email message for Schwartz’s review, and she explained the process for executing and processing the Assignment. Me-drano informed Schwartz that, “you will become the owner of record and Gates and Hansen will have no further rights or obligations under the Deposit Agreement to that aircraft.”

On January 30, Hansen emailed Schwartz the escrow instructions and a signed and notarized copy of the Assignment for Schwartz’s signature. In his email, Hansen stated: “If you are in agreement, please sign and return both to me.” Later the same day, Schwartz responded: “Everything looks fíne for me and find attached the signed paperwork back.”

Pursuant to the Assignment, Schwartz accepted New Freedom’s “assignment of the Deposit and of the Deposit Agreement.” Schwartz agreed to assume and become solely responsible for all of New Freedom’s duties and liabilities under the Deposit Agreement. Schwartz also agreed that he would have all of New Freedom’s rights and interests under the Deposit and the Deposit Agreement, and that he would be deemed a party thereto as though Schwartz had originally effected the Deposit and executed the Deposit Agreement.

The Deposit Agreement defined “Final Delivery Price” as “the price to be established six months prior to aircraft delivery that will reflect List Price plus Economic Price Adjustment [EPA] for inflation to the date of delivery and other price adjustments at the discretion of Eclipse.” It provided that a buyer could cancel the Deposit Agreement and obtain a refund of the deposit if the Final Delivery Price “exceeds the List Price published in the Eclipse 500 Deposit Program brochure, as adjusted for EPA, by more than 5%.”

After execution of the Assignment, Eclipse exercised its discretionary right under the Deposit Agreement to increase *379 the price of the Eclipse 500 jet by $450,000. Eclipse gave Schwartz the opportunity to cancel the Deposit Agreement and obtain a refund of the $97,500 deposit. Schwartz elected not to rescind the Deposit Agreement with Eclipse. Eclipse later filed for bankruptcy and the jet was never delivered.

Schwartz sued iFreedom as well as Hansen and Gates in their individual capacities, asserting claims under New Mexico law for fraud in the inducement, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment and rescission. The district court granted iFreedom’s motion for summary judgment on all Schwartz’s claims.

II

We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo. Shero v. City of Grove, 510 F.3d 1196, 1200 (10th Cir.2007). Summary judgment is appropriate if “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(a); see also Beaird v. Seagate Tech., Inc., 145 F.3d 1159, 1165 (10th Cir.1998).

For substantially the same reasons set forth by the district court, we conclude that Schwartz has failed to present a genuine issue as to any material fact. The only point on which we differ from the district court’s analysis relates to the duty of a party to read a contract.

Schwartz contends that the misrepresentation or omission which resulted in fraudulent inducement was Hansen’s failure to specifically inform Schwartz in Hansen’s own words that the Deposit Agreement contained the unilateral price adjustment provision. In support of this argument Schwartz cites a number of New Mexico cases which stand for the proposition that, although a plaintiff may have a duty to read a contract, that duty is not absolute. E.g., Pattison v. Ford, 82 N.M. 605, 485 P.2d 361, 362 (1971).

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Related

Beaird v. Seagate Technology, Inc.
145 F.3d 1159 (Tenth Circuit, 1998)
Shero v. City of Grove, Okl.
510 F.3d 1196 (Tenth Circuit, 2007)
Flinchum Construction Co. v. Central Glass & Mirror Co.
611 P.2d 221 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1980)
Jacobs v. Phillippi
697 P.2d 132 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1985)
Pattison v. Ford
485 P.2d 361 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 1971)

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Bluebook (online)
400 F. App'x 376, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schwartz-v-ifreedom-direct-corporation-ca10-2010.