Engineered Sales, Co. v. Endress + Hauser, Inc., No. 19-1671 (8th Cir. 2020)
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Engineered Sales filed suit against Endress, alleging a violation of the Minnesota Termination of Sales Representatives Act. At issue is whether the Act, as amended in 2014, applies to their contractual relationship.
The Eighth Circuit reversed and remanded the district court's ruling as to whether Endress had "good cause" and otherwise violated the Act in its termination of the agreement. The court held that Engineered Sales continued to solicit orders with Endress's "consent or acquiescence" after August 1, 2014, and thus the parties' agreement was renewed after August 1, 2014, making the anti-waiver provision applicable to its terms. The court also held that the parties' Indiana choice-of-law provision would allow Endress to circumvent the requirements of the Act in this case, and thus the provision is void and unenforceable under Minn. Stat. 325E.37, subd. 7.
Court Description: [Melloy, Author, with Smith, Chief Judge, and Shepherd, Circuit Judge] Civil case - Minnesota Termination of Sales Representative Act. The Act, as amended in 2014, applies to the parties' contractual relationship, and the district court erred in finding the Act did not apply because the parties' agreement was not "renewed" on or after the effective date of the Act; because plaintiff continued to solicit orders with defendant's consent or acquiescence after the effective date, the parties' agreement was, under Minnesota law, "renewed," and the Act applied to the agreement; reversed and remanded to the district court for a ruling as to whether defendant had good cause and otherwise violated the Act by terminating the parties' agreement. Chief Judge Smith, dissenting.
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