Ryan Data Exchange, Ltd. v. Graco, Inc., No. 17-1451 (8th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this Case
Graco sought to set a jury verdict aside that found in favor of Rydex in its breach of contract claim against Graco. Graco renewed its motion for judgment as a matter of law and moved for a new trial. After the district court denied these motions, the district court further awarded $204,221.50 in attorneys' fees to Rydex.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed and held that the jury's determinations, rather than the district court's findings as a matter of law, resolved the materiality issue. The court explained that these factual determinations were uniquely in the jury's purview and the court declined to upset it on appeal. The court also held that the jury instructions fairly and adequately presented the applicable law and there was no error in reducing the amount of attorneys' fees requested by plaintiff.
Court Description: Beam, Author, with Colloton and Grasz, Circuit Judges] Civil case - Contracts. The court would not upset the jury's factual determinations that plaintiff's breaches of the parties' contract were not material; challenge to court's refusal to give defendant's proposed jury instructions on "conditions precedent" and "duty of good faith and fair dealing" rejected as the instructions given to the jury fairly and adequately presented the applicable law; no error in reducing the amount of attorneys' fees requested by plaintiff.
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.