The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit affirmed a decision by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, which granted summary judgment for the firm's client, J.R. Simplot Company ("Simplot"), who was represented by Fraser Trebilcock attorney Thaddeus Morgan.

The case, Helena Agri-Enterprises v. AAA Turf, involved AAA Turf, Inc. ("AAA Turf") and Helena-Agri Enterprises, LLC ("Helena"). In 2019, Helena sued AAA Turf for breach of contract and several other claims, seeking to recover $120,000 from unpaid invoices over the past several years. In response, AAA Turf countersued Helena, and brought Simplot in as a third-party defendant. Through discovery, AAA Turf claimed that it first learned that the seed Helena sold to them in 2014 for their sod business was different from the one sold to them afterwards that resulted in poor sod unable to harvest that continued over multiple seasons.

AAA Turf intended to amend its counterclaims to include claims for fraud in the inducement and fraudulent concealment. However, it did not move to amend until more than one year past the deadline for amending pleadings, leading the district court to deny AAA Turf's motion. Following further motions by both parties, the Court granted summary judgment in favor of Helena and Simplot.

AAA Turf appealed the district court's summary judgment decision and the denial of its motion to amend their counterclaim. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit did not find either of the district court's decisions erroneous, affirming the denial of AAA Turf's motion to amend and granting summary judgment to Helena and Simplot.

You can view the opinion here.

You can view the judgment here.

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