TITAN FEEDING, LLC v. COREY CATTLE COMPANY, LLC, JON COREY, and DANTES HOLDINGS, LLC,
Civil Action No. 19-cv-02541-PAB-SKC
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer
September 13, 2022
Document 154
ORDER
This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff‘s Second Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [Docket No. 120]. Defendant Corey Cattle Company, LLC (“Corey Cattle“) responded, Docket No. 131,1 and plaintiff replied. Docket No. 134.
I. BACKGROUND2
Corey Cattle is a feed yard that takes in and feeds cattle owned by customers. Docket No. 120 at 2, ¶ 1. From 2017 to 2019, plaintiff Titan Feeding, LLC was a customer of Corey Cattle, which accepted plaintiff‘s cattle for care and feeding. Id., ¶ 2. Corey Cattle, however, sold some of plaintiff‘s cattle and kept the proceeds. Id., ¶ 3.3
Without paying any of the proceeds to plaintiff, at some point Corey Cattle sold 20 of the 564 head of cattle purchased in Contract 2, 369 of the head of cattle purchased in Contract 3, 302 of the head in Contract 5, and 167 of the head in Contract 6. Id. at 3-4, ¶¶ 11, 14, 17, 20. Plaintiff did not authorize Corey Cattle to keep the proceeds without paying them to plaintiff. Id.; see also id. at 3-5, ¶¶ 12, 15, 18, 21.5
Plaintiff states that the value of the 20 cattle from Contract 2 was not less than $49,241.14, that the value of the 369 cattle sold from Contract 3 was not less than $844,663.62, that the value of the 302 cattle sold from Contract 5 was $670,249.63, and that the value of the 167 cattle sold from Contract 6 was not less than $347,081.23. Id.
Plaintiff reached these figures as follows: (1) when Corey Cattle sold plaintiff‘s cattle, Corey Cattle would prepare and send to plaintiff “Wagyu Fats Shipped” reports, stating the number of head sold, weights, and lots from which the cattle came; (2) plaintiff prepared “Closeout” reports, which plaintiff would send to Corey Cattle, based on the Wagyu Fats Shipped reports for the cattle that were sold; (3) plaintiff matched the lot numbers in the Wagyu Fats Shipped reports to the Contracts using lot numbers and head numbers that Corey Cattle provided; (4) plaintiff made adjustments of $4,564.73 for incorrect purchase amounts; (5) because Corey Cattle wanted to increase the days “on feed” for plaintiff‘s cattle, the parties adjusted the premium by dividing the original premium by the original number of days on feed and then multiplying by the actual number of days on feed; and (6) plaintiff then factored in the feed costs. Id. at 5-7, ¶ 24.8 Corey Cattle agreed to the head counts and values. Id. at 7, ¶ 25.9
II. LEGAL STANDARD
Summary judgment is warranted under
If the party moving for summary judgment bears the ultimate burden of persuasion at trial, it must “support its motion with credible evidence . . . that would entitle it to a directed verdict if not controverted at trial.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 331 (1986). This “shifts the burden of production to the party opposing the motion and requires that party either to produce evidentiary materials that demonstrate the existence of a ‘genuine issue’ for trial or to submit an affidavit requesting additional time for discovery.” Id.
III. ANALYSIS12
Plaintiff brings eleven claims against defendants. See Docket No. 55 at 22-32, ¶¶ 104-89. Plaintiff seeks summary judgment on its second and fourth through seventh claims against Corey Cattle. See Docket No. 120 at 1. These claims are for conversion and breach of the Contracts. Docket No. 55 at 23-24, 26-29, ¶¶ 110-15, 133-64.
A. Conversion Claim
Plaintiff seeks summary judgment on its claim for conversion. Docket No. 120 at 10-11. Conversion under Colorado law is “any distinct, unauthorized act of dominion or ownership exercised by one person over personal property belonging to another.” Itin v. Ungar, 17 P.3d 129, 135 n.10 (Colo. 2000) (quoting Byron v. York Inv. Co., 296 P.2d 742, 745 (Colo. 1956)).
The undisputed facts establish that Corey Cattle exercised control over the Sold Cattle, which belonged to plaintiff and, although the Contracts authorized Corey Cattle‘s control over the Sold Cattle for some time, Corey Cattle acted without authorization when it sold the Sold Cattle. The undisputed facts also establish that plaintiff demanded the return of the Sold Cattle - or the value of the Sold Cattle - but that Corey Cattle has refused. That is sufficient for a conversion claim.
Corey Cattle‘s arguments to the contrary are not persuasive. First, Corey Cattle insists that there is a factual dispute over whether its control over the Sold Cattle was unauthorized, given that it took control of plaintiff‘s cattle with plaintiff‘s authorization pursuant to the Contracts. Docket No. 131 at 8-9. Corey Cattle relies on Parker Excavating, Inc. v. Lafarge W., Inc., No. 14-cv-01534-LTB-MJW, 2016 WL 1756440, at *6 (D. Colo. May 3, 2016), aff‘d, 863 F.3d 1213 (10th Cir. 2017).
Second, Corey Cattle argues that it was “authorized to sell [plaintiff‘s] cattle and routinely did so after which it paid proceeds to [plaintiff].” Docket No. 131 at 9. This statement, however, is not sufficient to show a genuine dispute of material fact to prevent summary judgment on this claim. Corey Cattle provides no facts in support of this assertion in its response to plaintiff‘s statement of undisputed facts. Rather, in the
Third, Corey Cattle argues that there is a factual dispute regarding its “refusal” to return plaintiff‘s cattle because, by the date plaintiff demanded the cattle‘s return, Corey Cattle had already sold the cattle and, therefore, could not have “refused” to return the cattle. Docket No. 131 at 9. Plaintiff contends that the notion that a defendant can sell someone‘s property and evade liability for conversion because the defendant no longer has the property lacks support. Plaintiff is largely correct. The broad definition of conversion as “any distinct, unauthorized act of dominion or ownership exercised by one person over personal property belonging to another,” Byron, 296 P.2d at 745 (emphasis added), supports plaintiff‘s position that it should not be foreclosed from a conversion claim simply because Corey Cattle sold the cattle before plaintiff was able to demand the Sold Cattle‘s return. Moreover, there are numerous conversion cases in which a plaintiff seeks money damages for converted property like livestock or crops that were disposed of or harvested. See, e.g., Mason v. Farm Credit of S. Colo., ACA, 419 P.3d 975, 983-84 (Colo. 2018) (“Farm Credit‘s conversion claim . . . alleged that Mason used or disposed of harvested crops, growing crops, livestock, unmanufactured
B. Breach-of-Contract Claims
Plaintiff also seeks summary judgment for its breach-of-contract claims. Docket No. 120 at 11-12. In Colorado, “a party attempting to recover on a claim for breach of contract must prove the following elements: (1) the existence of a contract; (2) performance by the plaintiff or some justification for nonperformance; (3) failure to perform the contract by the defendant; and (4) resulting damages to the plaintiff.” W. Distrib. Co. v. Diodosio, 841 P.2d 1053, 1058 (Colo. 1992) (internal citations omitted). Plaintiff argues that the undisputed facts establish the existence of the Contracts, plaintiff‘s performance, Corey Cattle‘s non-performance by selling the Sold Cattle without telling plaintiff or paying plaintiff the proceeds, and damages to plaintiff in the loss of the Sold Cattle‘s value under the Contracts. Docket No. 120 at 12.
Corey Cattle disputes that plaintiff complied with its obligations under the
Second, Corey Cattle disputes plaintiff‘s contention that Corey Cattle did not perform under the Contracts. Corey Cattle argues that, under the Contracts, it “agree[d] to purchase from [plaintiff], and [plaintiff] agree[d] to sell’ to [Corey Cattle], the cattle described in the Contracts only after the cattle reached a designated fat weight.” Docket No. 131 at 10. However, Corey Cattle argues, by the time plaintiff demanded that Corey Cattle repurchase the cattle, the cattle had already been sold. Thus, Corey
C. Damages
Plaintiff argues that the Court should enter judgment against Corey Cattle for $1,911,235.62 plus 8% interest accruing since June 30, 2019 pursuant to
Corey Cattle disagrees with plaintiff‘s damages calculations. First, Corey Cattle argues that plaintiff‘s calculations are conclusory and are based almost entirely on Mr. Skocdopole‘s declaration. Docket No. 131 at 10-11. Corey Cattle, however, does not explain why it is inappropriate for plaintiff to rely on a declaration prepared by plaintiff‘s operations manager, who states that he has personal knowledge for the statements that he makes in the declaration and who, according to the undisputed facts, was personally involved in the dispute. See Docket No. 120-9 at 1. Corey Cattle does not argue that Mr. Skocdopole‘s declaration is a “sham” affidavit, for instance, such that it contradicts his prior testimony. See, e.g., Mascarenas v. Am. Fam. Mut. Ins. Co., No. 14-cv-02799-KLM, 2015 WL 8303604, at *4 (D. Colo. Dec. 8, 2015) (discussing sham affidavits as those that conflict with prior sworn testimony).
Second, Corey Cattle argues that Mr. Skocdopole‘s declaration “provides no additional information” for how he reached his damages figures. Docket No. 131 at 11. Corey Cattle is correct that the particular paragraphs of Mr. Skocdopole‘s declaration stating the value of the various head of cattle from each contract provide little support
Third, Corey Cattle identifies its calculation of the value of plaintiff‘s cattle from its interrogatory responses. Docket No. 131 at 11 (citing Docket No. 131-1 at 4). That response states that Corey Cattle believes that it shipped the Sold Cattle, along with additional Corey Cattle-owned cattle, to a processor between January and April 2019 and that Corey Cattle received $1,854,671.14 for its sale of 1,187 cattle, which equals approximately $1,562.49 for each head of cattle. Docket No. 131-1 at 4. However, while Corey Cattle repeatedly cited portions of its interrogatory responses in its denials of other facts that plaintiff provided, as discussed previously, it did not cite this portion of its interrogatory responses in its denials of plaintiff‘s damages calculations. See Docket No. 131 at 3-5, ¶¶ 13, 16, 19, 22, 23. Instead, it cites only Michael Corey‘s conclusory declaration that he believed the values were less than plaintiff calculated, but not what he believed the values to be or why. Id.
The undisputed facts instead reflect a measure of damages that would “place the parties in the same financial position they would have occupied had the contract terms been fulfilled” with “reasonable certainty.” See Morris, 201 P.3d at 1257-58 (quotation omitted). Accordingly, the Court will direct the Clerk to enter judgment for plaintiff in the
IV. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, it is
ORDERED that Plaintiff‘s Second Motion for Partial Summary Judgment [Docket No. 120] is GRANTED. It is further
ORDERED that judgment shall enter in favor of plaintiff Titan Feeding, LLC and against defendant Corey Cattle, LLC on plaintiff‘s second, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh claims in the amount of $1,911,235.62 plus 8% interest accruing since June 30, 2019.
DATED September 13, 2022.
BY THE COURT:
PHILIP A. BRIMMER
Chief United States District Judge
