Star City School District v. ACI Building Systems, LLC, No. 15-3723 (8th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CaseACI was the company that manufactured and supplied roofing materials used in the construction of the high school building at issue here. The District filed suit against ACI, alleging that the building’s roof was not watertight and that ACI had failed to repair or replace the roof. The district court granted ACI's motion to dismiss. The court concluded that the district court properly dismissed the false representation claims where the District did not plead any false representation. The court rejected the District's claim that it's allegations related to ACI's assurances that it would repair or replace the roof, because such assurances relate to a future event. Under Arkansas law, generally, a misrepresentation must relate to a past event or a present circumstance. The court also concluded that the district court properly dismissed the fraud and constructive fraud claims for failure to plead actual reliance by the District on ACI's alleged misrepresentations. The district court did not err in granting summary judgment for ACI on the remaining breach of warranty, breach of contract, and negligence claims because Arkansas's statute of repose bars the District's claims. Finally, the court rejected the District's argument that the statute of repose was tolled while ACI tried to repair the roof where there is no evidence that ACI fraudulently concealed the roof’s deficiencies. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment.
Court Description: Wollman, Author, with Arnold and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Contracts. In action alleging defendant had installed a defective roof and had failed to repair or replace it as promised, the district court did not err in dismissing plaintiff's claims for fraud and constructive fraud, as defendant's representations were as to future event - repairing or replacing the roof - rather than a past event or a present circumstance and the representations could not serve as the basis for a fraud claim under Arkansas law; additionally, the complaint failed to plead actual reliance on the alleged misrepresentations; with respect to plaintiff's claims for breach of warranty, breach of contract and negligence, the district court did not err in finding that the claims were time-barred under Arkansas's Stature of Repose - Ark. Code Sec. 16-56-112(a); the statute was not tolled while defendant attempted to repair the roof as there is no evidence that defendant fraudulently concealed the roof's defects.
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