Alaska Rent-A-Car, Inc. v. Avis Budget Group, Inc., et al, No. 10-35137 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseAlaska Rent-A-Car sued Avis claiming that Avis had breached a settlement agreement causing Alaska business to be switched to Budget Rent-A-Car, its local competitor. The district court granted a partial summary judgment, establishing that Alaska Rent-A-Car was a party to the settlement agreement, and that Avis had breached the agreement by using the same personnel to sell and market both Avis and Budget cars. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Alaska Rent-A-Car for $16 million and Avis appealed. The court held that the district court was correct in ruling that Alaska Rent-A-Car was a party to the settlement agreement by virtue of its sufficiently timely joinder. The court rejected Avis's peremptory challenge claim under Batson v. Kentucky. The district court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the jury to listen to Alaska Rent-A-Car's expert as well as Avis's. The evidence sufficed to establish reasonable certainty for the damages awarded. The district court did not err by applying Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 82 to the attorney's fee award. The parties agreed that the amount of prejudgment interest was awarded in error, double counting, and that the judgment should be reduced.
Court Description: State Law / Daubert / Batson / Attorneys’ Fees. The panel affirmed the district court’s judgment, following a partial summary judgment and a jury trial, in an action alleging breach of a settlement agreement, and remanded for the district court to reduce the prejudgment interest award. The district court held that Alaska Rent-A-Car was a party to a settlement agreement, and that Avis had breached the agreement by using the same personnel to sell and market both Avis and Budget Rent-A-Car cars. The panel held that Alaska Rent-A-Car was a party to the settlement agreement by virtue of its sufficiently timely joinder. The panel also held that it was not error when during jury selection the district court applied Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986), and rejected one of Avis’s peremptory challenges to one of two Alaska Natives on the panel. Addressing Avis’s objection under Fed. R. Evid. 702 and Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993), the panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the jury to listen to Alaska Rent-A-Car’s expert witness on damages as well as Avis’s. The panel also held that under New York law, there was sufficient evidence to establish reasonable certainty for the amount of damages awarded by the jury to Alaska Rent-A-Car. The panel further held that the law of the forum, Alaska, properly applied to diversity cases brought in or removed to the United States District Court for the District of Alaska, and the district court did not err by applying Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 82 to the attorneys’ fee award.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on June 19, 2013.
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