B & B Hardware v. Fastenal Co., No. 11-2954 (8th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseB&B, a supplier of self-sealing fasteners, sued Fastenal for breach of an exclusive supply agreement, tortious interference with business expectancy, and violation of the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (ADTPA) based on Fastenal's purchases of self-sealing fasteners from competing suppliers. The court held that the district court did not abuse its discretion in considering the draft complaint that accompanied B&B's demand letter for the purpose of establishing when the statute of limitations began to run; the four-year statute of limitations applied to B&B's breach of contract claim; the statute-of-limitations barred the breach-of-contract claim; because no reasonable jury could find that B&B was ignorant of the facts surrounding Fastenal's breaching conduct, B&B could not benefit from an equitable exception to the statute of limitations; B&B had no cognizable tortious interference or ADTPA claims; and the attorney's fee award must be affirmed.
Court Description: Civil case - Contracts. District court did not err in concluding that plaintiff's claim that defendant breached their exclusive supply agreement was barred by the UCC's four-year statute of limitations; district court did not err in considering a draft complaint attached to plaintiff's demand letter as evidence of when the cause of action accrued; district court did not err in determining that defendant's conduct did not toll the statute of limitations as no jury could find that plaintiff was unaware of the facts surrounding defendant's breaching conduct; district court did not err in granting defendant summary judgment on plaintiff's tortious interference claim.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.