DISCLAIMER: Any unofficial case summaries below are prepared by the clerk's office
as a courtesy to the reader. They are not part of the opinion of the court.
131843P.pdf 06/13/2014 Graham Construction Services v. Hammer & Steel Inc.
U.S. Court of Appeals Case No: 13-1843
and No: 13-1906
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - St. Louis
[PUBLISHED] [Bright, Author, with Gruender and Melloy, Circuit Judges]
Civil case - Contracts. Where plaintiff sought purely economic damages
through its negligent misrepresentation claim, Missouri's economic loss
doctrine barred plaintiff's recovery on that claim, and the district court
erred in denying defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law on the
claim; plaintiff's jury award is vacated, and the district court is
directed to enter judgment for defendant on the claim; plaintiff's failure
to raise its argument regarding equitable estoppel in a Rule 50(a) motion
meant the issue was waived and would not be considered on appeal; district
court did not abuse its discretion by rejecting plaintiff's request for a
jury instruction on its defense of equitable estoppel; the district court
did err, however, in failing to instruct the jury on plaintiff's defense
of failure to mitigate as the instruction was supported by the evidence
and was legally correct; as a result, the jury's award in favor of
defendant on its breach of contract claim is vacated, and the matter is
remanded to the district court for a new trial limited to the issue of
damages; the "clean hands" doctrine did not bar defendant's claim for
money damages for a lost auger; however, the amount of the jury verdict on
this claim is affected by the mitigation of damages issue, and the jury
award is vacated with direction to conduct a new trial on damages on this
claim.