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.