Specialty Beverages, L.L.C v. Pabst Brewing Co.Specialty Beverages, L.L.C v. Pabst Brewing Co.
Before KELLY, EBEL, and McCONNELL, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiff Specialty Beverages, L.L.C. sued Defendant Pabst Brewing Company for breach of contract and fraud. Specialty Beverages and Pabst both filed motions for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to
We hold that the district court correctly granted Specialty’s motion regarding Pabst’s impossibility and impracticability defenses, correctly denied Pabst’s motion regarding lost profit damages, and correctly denied Specialty’s motion for attorneys fees. The district court erred, however, when it granted Pabst’s motion regarding Specialty’s fraud claim. We exercise our jurisdiction pursuant to
I. Facts
The contract dispute underlying these appeals arose out of the intricacies of Oklahoma law regulating the sale of beer. Oklahoma law permits the sale of both “low point” and “strong” beer. “[L]ow-point beer” includes “[a]ll beverages containing more than one-half of one percent
Qk
of 1%) alcohol by volume and not more than three and two-tenths percent (3.2%) alcohol by weight.”
Oklahoma significantly regulates the distribution of beer (as well as wines and other intoxicating beverages).
See
Even though they are not permitted to deliver beer to retail establishments, licensed non-resident sellers are permitted to go into licensed retail establishments to market and obtain space for their products from the retailer. A non-resident seller can also help the retail establishment order beer from that non-resident seller. The sale and delivery just has to be made through a licensed wholesaler. Thus, nonresident sellers can, in effect, work as the sales force for both the brewer and wholesaler. A non-resident seller can sell beer through, and a retail establishment can take delivery from, any number of licensed wholesalers.
This case involves a contract between Specialty Beverages, a non-resident seller licensed in Oklahoma, and Pabst, the largest brewer of strong beer doing business in Oklahoma. 2 Dennis James and Toby Tindell, along with two other “silent partners,” formed Specialty Beverages in the fall of 2002, and obtained the required licensing by February 2003. Specialty Beverages was a limited liability company formed under Delaware law and, as such, was qualified to be a non-resident seller in Oklahoma. Specialty Beverages began distributing lesser known brands of beer, wine, and soda.
Pabst, meanwhile, had a longstanding relationship with Marrs Distributing Company, which acted as the non-resident seller of certain Pabst brands in Oklahoma. 3 Over the course of their relationship, Pabst had become increasingly dissatisfied with Marrs. One of Pabst’s concerns about Marrs’s performance was that Marrs did not maintain any inventory of Pabst products from which licensed wholesalers and retailers could order. Thus, wholesalers and retailers had to place orders for Pabst products several months in advance. Marrs also did not make any effort to market Pabst’s brands to retail establishments, and instead relied solely on orders from wholesalers. In addition, although Pabst had authorized Marrs to distribute twenty-five Pabst brands, Marrs serviced only eight of them.
In light of Pabst’s growing dissatisfaction with Marrs, Pabst’s Oklahoma marketing manager, Chuck Lefholz, approached Specialty Beverages in the spring of 2003. Originally, Lefholz wanted Specialty Beverages to distribute Pabst’s low point beer, but Specialty Beverages was not interested. Later that same year, Lefholz again approached Specialty Beverages, but this time, he inquired whether Specialty would distribute Pabst’s strong beer.
During negotiations, Specialty Beverages and Pabst discussed Pabst’s business relationship with Marrs and the concerns Pabst had about Marrs’s performance. Regarding Pabst’s contractual relationship with Marrs, Lefholz explained to Specialty
Despite Lefholz’s belief that Pabst could terminate its relationship with Marrs, others at Pabst, specifically Rosemary Sara-bia-Mata, a “distributor contract coordinator,” and Yeoryios Appallas, Pabst’s vice president and general counsel, warned Lefholz that, in addition to the one-page annual appointment letter it had with Marrs, Pabst also had an eighteen-page “exclusive” distributorship agreement 4 with Marrs that did not include any termination date. General Counsel Appallas opined that Pabst could terminate its written distributorship agreement with Marrs only after giving Marrs sixty days’ notice and then only if Pabst could “prove that Marrs did not service and cannot service the territory assigned.” Lefholz, however, rejected that interpretation of Pabst’s relationship with Marrs, asserting that Oklahoma law would not recognize an exclusive distributorship agreement. Although there were a number of internal communications among Pabst officials concerning its contractual relationship with Marrs, no one from Pabst told Specialty Beverages about Pabst’s exclusive distributorship agreement with Marrs. Toby Tindell, one of Specialty Beverages’ owners, specifically testified that Specialty Beverages would never have entered into any agreement to be Pabst’s non-resident seller if Specialty had known about the exclusive arrangement between Pabst and Marrs.
Lefholz eventually obtained permission from Pabst’s management to notify Marrs that Pabst was not going to renew Marrs’s appointment letter. Pabst sent Marrs this termination notice on April 8, 2004.
A week later, on April 15, Pabst issued Specialty Beverages an “appointment letter,” “appointing” Special Beverages to be “our Nonresident Seller License for the State of Oklahoma for one year effective April 14, 2004 thru April 14, 2005 subject to Renewal at the sole discretion of Pabst Brewing Company.” The appointment letter then specifically listed a number of brands of Pabst beers. Although the letter does not specifically state this, Specialty Beverages understood that “those sorts of appointment letters could be terminated on 30-days notice with or without cause.”
Pabst’s general counsel, Appallas, testified that, in addition to the appointment letter, he also prepared a much lengthier distributor agreement for Specialty Beverages. That agreement was similar, although not identical, to the agreement Pabst also had with Marrs. In drafting the distributor agreement for Specialty Beverages, Appallas started with Pabst’s standard distributor agreement and then modified it to make a one-year, non-exclusive agreement. According to Appallas, he made these modifications because Specialty Beverages was a new company without a track record. Appallas further testified that he told Lefholz to send this agreement to Specialty Beverages, along with the one-page appointment letter. Lefholz responded he would not send that distributor agreement to Specialty Beverages because all that was needed was the appointment letter. The record indicates that
The Pabst appointment letter was Specialty Beverages’ big break. Although it had been distributing lesser known, smaller beverage brands, those brands did not have the volume of business that would make and keep Specialty Beverages profitable.
Specialty Beverages’ plan to improve sales of Pabst beer and avoid the problems Marrs encountered was to buy a significant inventory of beer from Pabst, aggressively market Pabst products to retail establishments, and service more than just the eight Pabst brands Marrs had been distributing. In furtherance of that plan, after obtaining the appointment letter, Specialty Beverages tripled its warehouse space and added temperature controls in the warehouse in order to store the beer in better conditions; added office space and administrative staff; bought a refrigerated trailer to store Pabst keg products, which had to be refrigerated rather than just air conditioned; hired a new sales force, going from one to four salespersons; hired Mike Fancher, who Pabst recommended, as Specialty Beverages’ sales manager; committed money and resources to marketing; borrowed significantly more money from the bank than it otherwise would have and increased its line of credit in order to buy Pabst beer to have on hand; and bought thousands of cases of Pabst beer. Specialty Beverages had specifically refrained from taking any of these steps until it received the official appointment letter because it did not have the financial ability to makes these changes to its business unless Pabst appointed Specialty as its non-resident seller.
On April 29, 2004, two weeks after Pabst issued Specialty Beverages the appointment letter, Marrs sued Pabst in Oklahoma state court, alleging Pabst had breached the exclusive distribution agreement it had with Marrs. On May 3, 2004, Marrs obtained a temporary restraining order (“TRO”) that restrained Pabst from breaching its distribution agreement with Marrs and ordered Pabst and Marrs to retain the status quo. As a result, Pabst reinstated Marrs as its exclusive distributor. The state court scheduled a hearing on Marrs’s motion for a preliminary injunction for May 25, 2004. Before that hearing occurred, however, Marrs and Pabst settled their dispute. Pabst agreed to reinstate Marrs as its exclusive distributor and non-resident seller, and Marrs agreed to dismiss its complaint without prejudice.
At Pabst’s urging, Specialty Beverages had already obtained a number of beer orders from retailers immediately upon receiving the appointment letter. Specialty Beverages placed its order with Pabst to fill these first retail orders and began receiving the beer from Pabst at about the time Marrs initiated litigation against Pabst. Once the court entered the TRO in the Marrs litigation, Pabst directed Specialty Beverages not to sell any of that beer to the retailers. “Right when [Specialty Beverages] got the beer in, of course, we were excited to ... get it out of the building, to move it in to ... take care of our customers, we got a ... message from Pabst that they had an issue and not to move any beer.” Using electronic transfers, Pabst still collected the money Specialty Beverages owed it for these beer shipments.
During this time, Pabst still encouraged Specialty Beverages to continue placing monthly beer orders, which Specialty did for several months. 5 Pabst, however, never delivered any more beer to Specialty. Pabst did eventually pick up some of the beer that it had already delivered to Specialty. The rest of the beer that Pabst delivered to Specialty grew stale in Specialty Beverages’ warehouse. In addition, those wholesalers and retailers that had ordered Pabst products through Specialty Beverages “were all over us about why we wasn’t [sic] getting them beer.” Specialty Beverages’ reputation among its customers was “destroyed” because Specialty could not fill any orders for Pabst products. Finally, to get Pabst’s attention, Specialty Beverages stopped the electronic fund transfers to Pabst to pay for the beer Specialty had continued to order. Pabst then encouraged Specialty to negotiate with Marrs and perhaps pay to obtain the distributorship. Specialty Beverages did try to negotiate with Marrs, to no avail. By February 2005, Specialty Beverages went out of business. “We were broke, and we had no beer to sell, and our reputation was totally destroyed.”
Specialty Beverages sued Pabst, in October 2004, in Oklahoma state court, and alleged both breach of contract and fraud. Pabst then removed the action to federal court on the basis of the federal court’s diversity jurisdiction,
see
The district court conducted a jury trial on these two claims. During trial, the district court granted Pabst judgment as a matter of law on Specialty Beverages’ fraud claim and granted Specialty judgment as a matter of law on Pabst’s impossibility and impracticability defenses. The jury then entered a verdict in Specialty Beverages’ favor on the breach-of-contract claim, awarding Specialty $274,022 in damages for economic loss and $400,000 in damages for the diminished value of Specialty Beverages’ business. The district court denied Specialty Beverages’ motion for attorneys’ fees. Both Specialty and Pabst appeal.
II. UCC or Oklahoma common law
Before turning to the merits, we must address an issue that both the district court and the parties overlooked: whether the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”), as enacted by Oklahoma, or Oklahoma common law contract principles govern these appeals.
6
Our diversity jurisdiction requires that we “ascertain and apply the state law” rather than “reach[ing][our] own judgment regarding the substance” of the state law in question.
Wade v. Emcasco Ins. Co.,
In Oklahoma, Article 2 of the UCC governs “transactions in goods.” Okla Stat. tit. 12A, § 2-102. The statute defines “goods” as “all things (including specially manufactured goods) which are movable at the time of identification to the contract for sale.” Id. § 2-105(1). There is no doubt that beer satisfies the statutory definition of a “good”; however, we must determine whether a distribution contract for beer constitutes a “transaction in goods.”
Although the Oklahoma Supreme Court has not yet addressed how to determine if a contract that provides both services and goods fits within Article 2’s scope, it appears that Oklahoma courts would apply the “predominant factor” test utilized by most other state courts.
See Gilbert Cent. Corp. v. State,
III. Merits
Turning to the merits, we first address the three issues related to the district court’s rulings on the parties’ motions for judgment as a matter of law pursuant to
A. Standard of review
We review de novo a district court’s decision to grant a motion for judgment as a matter of law.
Haberman v. Hartford Ins. Group,
B. Judgment as a matter of law on Pabst’s asserted defenses of impossibility or impracticability
Pabst contends that the district court erred when it granted Specialty judgment as a matter of law on Pabst’s asserted defenses of impossibility or impracticability. In response, Specialty asserts that the district court correctly granted the judgment as a matter of law because Pabst failed to demonstrate both that its performance was completely impossible and that Marrs’s defense of its legal rights was objectively unforeseeable. As discussed more completely below, we conclude that the district court properly granted Specialty judgment as a matter of law on this issue because Pabst failed to present the jury with evidence sufficient to allow the jury to conclude that the defense of impossibility or impracticability excused its nonperformance.
Under Oklahoma law, the defense of impossibility of performance is a common law doctrine,
see, e.g., Okla. Gas & Elec. Co. v. Pinkerton’s Inc.,
Where, from the nature of the contract, it is evident that the parties contracted on the basis of the continued existence of the person, thing, condition, or state of things, or of facts, to which it relates, the subsequent perishing of the person or thing, or cessation of existence of the condition or state will excuse the performance, or terminate the contract, a condition to that effect being implied, in spite of the fact that the promise may have been unqualified.
Kan., Okla. & Gulf Ry. Co. v. Grand Lake Grain Co.,
The Oklahoma Supreme Court has also adopted several limitations on the scope of this defense. The defense applies only if it “appear[s that] the thing to be done cannot be accomplished by any means.”
Id.-, see also Pinkerton’s,
Unlike impossibility of performance, impracticability is a UCC-based defense.
See
Okla. Stat. tit. 12A, § 2-615. That statute provides, in pertinent part: “a seller ... is not [in] breach of his duty under a contract for sale if performance as agreed has been made impracticable by the occurrence of a contingency the nonoccurrence of which was a basic assumption on which the contract was made....”
Id.
§ 2-615(a). Similar to the defense of impossibility, impracticability does not excuse nonperformance if the contingency was foreseeable.
See id.
cmt. 8 (“[T]he exemptions of this section do not apply when the contingency in question is sufficiently foreshadowed at the time of contracting to be included among the business risks which are fairly to be regarded as part of the dickered terms, either consciously or as a matter of reasonable, commercial interpretation from the circumstances.”);
see also Sabine Corp. v. ONG W., Inc.,
Turning to the case at bar, we conclude that the district court correctly granted Specialty a judgment as a matter of law on both defenses because the contingency in question' — the interference caused by the exclusive distribution agreement with Marrs — was foreseeable. The record indicates that Pabst anticipated that its contractual obligations to Marrs might interfere with its nascent relationship with Specialty. Pabst’s general counsel testified that at the time Pabst was negotiating with Specialty, he was aware that terminating the agreement with Marrs might lead to litigation. In addition, the record indicates that the general counsel believed that the distribution agreement with Marrs was binding and that Pabst would not likely be able to cancel that contract. In light of this evidence, we conclude that the interference caused by the Marrs contract was objectively foreseeable, and thus, the defenses of impossibility and impracticability were not available to Pabst.
See Sabine Corp.,
Pabst argues that its impossibility and impracticability defenses should have survived because, although litigation between Marrs and Pabst was foreseeable, the state court grant of the TRO was not. With this tenuous nuance, however, Pabst jumps from the frying pan into the fire. In the first place, it is far from unforeseeable that Marrs might obtain a TRO to enforce the distribution agreement. Moreover, Pabst’s argument fails because the TRO did not render its performance impossible or impracticable as the TRO was in place for only the short period of time. Oklahoma law dictates that a TRO may be in place only until the state court can hold a hearing on the requested preliminary injunction.
Under Oklahoma law, this type of “subjective impossibility” falls outside of the scope of the defense of impossibility.
See Pinkerton’s,
C. Denial of judgment as a matter of law on Specialty’s lost profits claim
Pabst next contends that the district court erred when it denied Pabst’s
The general rule under Oklahoma law allows for the recovery of anticipated lost profits if the loss is “capable of
reasonably accurate measurement or estimate.” Digital Design Group, Inc. v. Info. Builders, Inc.,
Pabst correctly asserts that in older cases, the Oklahoma Supreme Court limited the recovery of lost profit damages to established companies.
See, e.g., Carpenters’ Local 1686 v. Wallis,
The current legal landscape suggests that the Oklahoma Supreme Court would not apply this strict new business rule to the ease at bar because the now— applicable general rule points in the opposite direction. As discussed above, Oklahoma law now allows businesses to recover lost future profits so long as they can demonstrate that those loses are “capable of reasonably accurate measurement or estimate.”
Digital Design Group,
Second, the unique factual circumstances of the instant case suggest that the new business rule would not apply because the business venture at issue was generally established. The record indicates that Specialty had been in existence for two years prior
to
reaching the
agreement
with Pabst. Thus, it was not a new enterprise. In addition, the agreement dictated that Specialty would essentially step into the shoes of Marrs, an established business. Therefore, Specialty could (and did) rely on Marrs’s experiences as a baseline in
In light of these distinctions, we conclude that Oklahoma law would allow for Specialty to recover damages for anticipated lost profits. We must analyze the evidence presented at trial, however, to determine if the district court properly denied Pabst’s
The record unambiguously demonstrates that Specialty presented a “legally sufficient evidentiary basis” for the jury to award anticipated lost profits to Specialty.
10
First, there is no question that lost profit damages were within the contemplation of the parties when Pabst issued the appointment letter. This is not a circumstance where the lost profit damages depended upon a potentially unknown collateral contract.
See, e.g., Ft. Smith & W.R. Co. v. Williams,
Second, there is no doubt that the breach directly caused the loss and that the lost profits and diminution of value were capable of reasonably accurate estimate. Specialty’s expert testified extensively regarding his calculations of both lost profits and diminution in value. The expert explained that he extensively tested the pro forma calculations of Specialty’s projected profit and expenses during the twelve-month period the appointment letter from Pabst would have covered. The expert also testified that he analyzed Specialty’s accounting records as part of his examination. Finally, the expert testified about the methods he used to calculate the diminution of value. In light of this evidence, Specialty provided the jury with a legally sufficient basis on which to award Specialty economic damages for both lost profits and diminution in value, and accordingly, the district court did not err when it denied Pabst’s
Specialty claims that the district court wrongly granted Pabst’s motion for judgment as a matter of law on Specialty’s fraud claim. Before turning to the merits on this issue, however, we briefly consider a threshold issue—whether Oklahoma law allows a plaintiff to bring simultaneous claims for fraud and breach of contract. Oklahoma law on this point is well settled. While a party may not obtain double recovery, election of remedies is not required.
See Rogers v. Meiser,
We turn, then, to the merits of Specialty’s fraud claim. That claim, as set forth in the pretrial order, is based on the theory that “Pabst knowingly and willfully misrepresented to Specialty the nature of Pabst’s agreement with Marrs. Specifically, Specialty alleges that Pabst represented that Marrs merely had an expired one year letter agreement ... that Pabst was not going to renew.” “Pabst knowingly failed to inform Specialty that Pabst and Marrs actually had an exclusive distributor agreement with no expiration date.” As a result, “Specialty alleges that it entered into the letter agreement with Pabst, hired a sales manager, rented additional warehouse space, incurred new debt, purchased beer from Pabst, and took orders from customers in reliance upon Pabst’s representations.” Finally, “Specialty alleges that had it known Pabst’s representations were untrue, it would not have done any of these things.”
Oklahoma recognizes several different theories that would support a fraud claim. Specialty Beverages presented sufficient evidence to withstand Pabst’s
Oklahoma Stat. tit. 15, § 59 establishes a cause of action for constructive fraud. Constructive fraud occurs:
1. In any breach of duty which, without an actually fraudulent intent, gains an advantage to the person in fault, or any one claiming under him, by misleading another to his prejudice, or to the prejudice of any one claiming under him; or,
2. In any such act or omission as the law specially declares to be fraudulent, without respect to actual fraud.
To recover under a theory of constructive fraud, Specialty Beverages must prove:
(1) That the defendant owed plaintiff a duty of full disclosure. This duty could be part of a general fiduciary duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff. This duty could also arise, even though it might not exist in the first instance, once a defendant voluntarily chooses to speak to plaintiff about a particular subject matter;
(2) That the defendant misstated a fact or failed to disclose a fact to plaintiff;
(3) That the defendant’s misstatement or omission was material;
(4) That plaintiff relied on defendant’s material misstatement or omission; and
(5) That plaintiff suffered damages as a result of defendant’s material misstatement or omission.
Lillard, v. Stockton,
Although to recover a plaintiff must ultimately prove fraud by clear and convincing evidence, “it is not necessary that evidence of fraud be ‘clear and convincing’ to escape a demurrer to the evidence. However, there must be evidence of each element of fraud presented before the issue may be submitted to the jury.”
13
P.E.A.C.E. Corp. v. Okla. Natural Gas Co.,
1. Duty to speak
Oklahoma law does not restrict the duty necessary for a constructive fraud claim to a general fiduciary duty. Instead, the requisite duty may arise if a party selectively discloses facts that create a false impression.
See Uptegraft v. Dome Petroleum Corp.,
In the instant case, Specialty Beverages’ evidence demonstrates that a reasonable jury could conclude that Pabst owed Specialty such a duty. During their
2.Failure to disclose
In light of our determination regarding Pabst’s duty of full disclosure, we have little trouble concluding that Pabst failed to disclose the complete facts of its contractual relationship with Marrs. Toby Tindell and Mike Francher, two Specialty employees, testified that, while Pabst informed them about the appointment letter with Marrs, it did not tell them about the exclusive distributor agreement with Marrs. The failure to disclose this fact was sufficient to satisfy this element.
See Doerr,
3. Materiality, Reliance, & Damages
We similarly have no doubt that Specialty relied on Pabst’s failure to disclose the material nature of its relationship with Marrs and that Speciality suffered damages as a result. Toby Tindell testified that Specialty would not have entered into any agreement with Pabst if it had been aware of the full extent of the relationship between Pabst and Marrs. Tindell also testified that Specialty expanded its warehouse capacity, hired additional staff, increased its credit line, and arranged for refrigeration capacity after Pabst sent it the appointment letter.
4. Conclusion
Specialty, thus, presented sufficient evidence on each element of a constructive fraud claim under
Although the parties address constructive fraud here, the pretrial order itself did not limit Specialty Beverages fraud claim to a theory of constructive fraud. It may be that Specialty’s evidence would also support a fraud claim under another theory recognized under Oklahoma law.
14
We need not decide that here, but leave it instead for the parties to determine on
III. Attorneys’ fees
With the judgment as a matter of law issues resolved, we turn to the final issue on appeal. We review the district court’s decision to deny Specialty’s request for attorneys’ fees for an abuse of discretion.
In re Meridian Reserve, Inc.,
The Oklahoma statute at issue provides: In any civil action to recover for labor or services rendered, or on an open account, a statement of account, account stated, note, bill, negotiable instrument, or contract relating to the purchase or sale of goods, wares, or merchandise, unless otherwise provided by law or the contract which is the subject of the action, the prevailing party shall be allowed a reasonable attorney fee to be set by the court, to be taxed and collected as costs.
In a case addressing
Consistent with this narrow interpretation, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has held that actions for breach of contract for the performance of labor and services do not fit within
Specialty contends that, while the Oklahoma Supreme Court has narrowly interpreted
In the instant case, the gravamen of Specialty’s complaint was to recover lost profits for Pabst’s breach of their agreement. Specialty did not seek to recover amounts owed to it by Pabst for the purchase or sale of beer. Accordingly, the district court correctly denied Specialty’s motion for attorney fees after concluding that
IV.
In light of our discussion above, we conclude that the district court erred only with respect to its decision on Pabst’s
Notes
. For the remainder of this opinion, all references to "beer” refer to "strong” beer unless otherwise indicated.
. At the time of this contract, Pabst was the fourth largest “brewer” in the United States, but sold the most strong beer in Oklahoma. At that time, the three larger brewers, Anheu-ser-Busch, Miller, and Coors, apparently decided not to sell strong beer in Oklahoma because of the convoluted nature of the state's tiered distribution system.
. Pabst sold its remaining brands through another non-resident seller, Best Brands.
. Pabst also had an "exclusive” agreement with its other non-resident seller in Oklahoma, Best Brands. Those agreements with both Best Brands and Marrs were correctly categorized as "exclusive” because Pabst had authorized Marrs to distribute certain Pabst brands exclusively, and Best Brands to distribute other, different Pabst brands exclusively. Pabst, therefore, had two "exclusive” distributorship agreements with two different non-resident sellers.
. Specialty Beverages feared that if it did not continue making monthly beer orders,- Pabst would accuse Specialty of breaching the appointment letter.
. The parties do not dispute that Oklahoma law governs the claims at issue in the instant case.
. In the UCC context, decisions from other jurisdictions are particularly persuasive due to the uniform nature of the UCC, and where necessary, Oklahoma courts look to decisions from other state and federal courts when analyzing common provisions of the UCC.
See, e.g., Sesow v. Swearingen,
. Because we conclude that the district court correctly granted Specialty’s
. Although we have faced this issue before, we expressly declined to answer whether Oklahoma law would allow for lost profit damages for unestablished businesses.
See TK-7 Corp. v. Estate of Barbouti,
. At trial, the parties divided economic damages into two classes: anticipated lost profits and diminution in value. We have recognized, however, that the diminution in value calculation depends on a firm’s projected profit stream, and thus, that an award for both diminution in value and lost profits can be duplicative.
See Eateries, Inc. v. J.R. Simplot Co.,
. Because we conclude that the district court correctly denied Pabst's
. We specifically caution, however, against a duplicative damages award for both fraud and breach of contract. On remand, the district court must be mindful of the damages award for breach of contract and must take care that any damages due to the fraud do not doubly compensate Specialty.
. “[B]ecause fraud is never presumed, the mere allegation of fraud alone will not justify the submission of that issue to the jury unless facts are produced from which an
irresistible deduction of fraud reasonably arises.’ " Roberts v. Wells Fargo AG Credit Corp.,
. In addition to