Truform, Inc. v. General Motors Corp.

80 F. App'x 968
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedNovember 17, 2003
DocketNo. 01-4301, 02-3015
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 80 F. App'x 968 (Truform, Inc. v. General Motors Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Truform, Inc. v. General Motors Corp., 80 F. App'x 968 (6th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

RYAN, Circuit Judge.

Truform, Inc., a manufacturer of automotive parts, brought a breach of contract action against General Motors Corporation and American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc. During the course of the litigation, Truform dismissed its claims against General Motors, but proceeded against American Axle for claims of breach of contract, fraud, and economic duress. American Axle filed counterclaims against Truform for breach of contract, breach of implied warranty, and breach of express warranty, and added Clarence Burkholder, president of Truform, as a third-party defendant.

I.

The district court had jurisdiction over this dispute under the federal diversity statute. 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Following a bench trial, the district court entered a mixed judgment, partly for Truform and partly for American Axle, and awarded damages to each, which resulted in a net award for Truform of $427,285.32 plus prejudgment interest. For the reasons we shall explain in detail, we affirm the district court’s judgment in all respects.

II.

From 1973 until December 1999, Truform manufactured parts for steering linkages for ultimate installation in General Motors vehicles. Pursuant to a series of agreements with GM, Truform supplied parts to GM’s plant in Buffalo, New York. In 1994, GM sold the Buffalo plant to American Axle. As part of the sale, American Axle and GM entered a Component Supply Agreement, under which American Axle agreed to manufacture drive line components for GM, using parts from suppliers, including Truform, that GM had selected. GM’s separate agreements with Truform and American Axle had the practical effect of requiring American Axle to manufacture drive line components at the Buffalo plant using parts supplied by Truform.

The record contains copies of GM’s written agreements with both parties. GM issued an order to Truform, effective January 1, 1993, to “extend [Truform’s] contract ... to meet [GM’s] production requirements” until December 31, 1997. When American Axle bought the Buffalo plant in 1994, it agreed under the Component Supply Agreement to purchase all of [971]*971its supplies directly from GM. The agreement permitted American Axle to schedule deliveries, receive material, manage supplier performance, and issue releases against GM’s purchase orders. The agreement made it clear, however, that GM would make the final decisions regarding suppliers. Although American Axle was required to purchase its supplies from GM, it did not pay GM directly for the parts. Instead, American Axle paid GM’s suppliers on behalf of GM in exchange for a corresponding credit toward American Axle’s debt to GM.

GM, American Axle, and Truform performed their contractual obligations from 1994 until at least 1998. Pursuant to the agreement between GM and Truform, GM would issue purchase orders to “buy” parts from Truform, but would not pay Truform directly for the parts. GM would then instruct Truform to deliver the parts and the invoices to American Axle at the Buffalo plant. When the parts that had been “bought” by GM arrived at the plant, American Axle would “buy” the parts from GM by paying Truform on behalf of GM. In effect, Truform sold parts to GM but delivered the parts to American Axle, which then paid Truform on behalf of GM.

Sometime in early 1998, American Axle became dissatisfied with Truform’s performance. However, the agreement between American Axle and GM prohibited American Axle from terminating Truform and selecting a different supplier. In March 1998, American Axle began billing Truform for “containment costs,” meaning costs incurred by American Axle because of poor products delivered by Truform. American Axle intended to deduct these containment costs from Truform’s invoices. Truform objected to the charges, claiming that if American Axle imposed the cost recoveries, Truform would be driven out of business.

After several months, American Axle stopped sending Truform notices of containment costs. American Axle could not afford to put Truform out of business because at the time, GM had not given American Axle permission to select a different supplier. If Truform went out of business and American Axle could not obtain the parts that Truform supplied, GM’s assembly facilities could be shut down, causing substantial economic losses all around. Although American Axle stopped sending containment cost notices to Truform, it continued through 1999, to develop cost containment or cost recovery data, internally. A witness for American Axle testified that it did so to protect the efficiency ratings of its departments that had to spend time dealing with Truform’s defective parts. For the rest of 1998 through the end of 1999, American Axle withheld its cost recovery calculations from Truform.

The district court found no credible evidence that GM issued a purchase order to Truform in 1999. It found, however, that throughout 1999, American Axle delivered weekly “planning schedules” to Truform, which forecast American Axle’s upcoming needs for parts. American Axle also delivered “shipping schedules” to Truform, which controlled Truform’s production and delivery of these parts. During 1999, American Axle constantly altered its shipping schedules, making Truform’s operations so chaotic that it was impossible for Truform to meet American Axle’s changing demand for supplies.

The court found that by the middle of 1999, American Axle learned from GM that it would be permitted to retain a different supplier. In the final months of 1999, American Axle attempted to secure maximum production from Truform in order to have sufficient inventory on hand during the transition to the new supplier. Ameri[972]*972can Axle did not pay Truform’s September, October, and November 1999 invoices, but continued to request that Truform produce and ship parts to the Buffalo plant. On November 1, 1999, American Axle sent Truform a purchase order for 1999 and at the same time informed Truform that it was setting off its containment costs against the amount it owed for parts received. American Axle calculated its containment costs to be $2,100,000, but later reduced that figure to approximately $1,800,000.

Based on these findings of fact, the district court held that Truform and American Axle had an implied contract with one another, which had been breached by both parties. American Axle breached the contract by refusing to pay Truform for parts that Truform had manufactured and delivered from September through November 1999. Based on American Axle’s failure to pay, Truform was entitled to $353,609.03 in costs and $75,000 in consequential damages. However, Truform also breached the contract by delivering nonconforming parts. The district court deducted the value of these parts, $1,323.71, from the damages that American Axle owed to Truform. The court found that the facts did not support Truform’s claims for fraud or economic duress and that American Axle was not entitled to recover its containment costs because it had expressly waived its right to any recovery. American Axle could neither assert GM’s contractual rights against Truform nor enforce GM’s warranty claims against Truform because Truform was unaware of the agreement between American Axle and GM. The only costs American Axle could recover were its documented losses from Truform’s nonconforming parts. The district court calculated the prejudgment interest using the rate applied in Michigan.

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