St. Jude Med. S.C., Inc. v. Tormey, No. 14-1619 (8th Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CaseIn 2001, St. Jude hired Tormey to sell cardiac-related medical devices. Tormey entered into several agreements, providing Tormey’s initial sales quota would be zero due to a noncompete agreement; that St. Jude would hire a technical support specialist (TSS) to assist Tormey; and that St. Jude could terminate Tormey if he failed to meet sales quotas. St. Jude made a $650,000 interest-free loan; Tormey executed a promissory note. Around the time he began selling for St. Jude’s, Tormey’s wife was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. Tormey informed St. Jude of his wife’s condition. He began inquiring about when St. Jude would hire a TSS and negotiated sales quotas accordingly. Tormey rejected the TSS assigned in October 2003. Tormey’s wife’s condition worsened in November; Tormey thereafter did not meet quotas. She died in May, 2004. Two weeks later, St. Jude, terminated the agreements. Tormey claimed that he accepted St. Jude’s proposal that if Tormey waived any actions against St. Jude, it would waive repayment of the $650,000 and presumed his obligations had been discharged. There are no written documents and St. Jude denies any such agreement. The district court rejected Tormey’s counterclaims alleging fraud and, after a jury was unable to reach a verdict, entered judgment for St. Jude on the note, finding that it did not first commit a material breach. The Eighth Circuit affirmed.
Court Description: Civil case - Contracts. Because plaintiff failed to present evidence that a claimed "walk-away"agreement releasing him from liability to repay a loan was in writing as required by Minn. Stat. Sec. 513.33, the district court did not err in granting defendant judgment as a matter of law on this defense or on its collection claim; plaintiff's counterclaims were time-barred; plaintiff failed to object under Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(a)to the magistrate's order denying certain of his discovery requests, and the court was without jurisdiction to review the issue.
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