VLM Food Trading Int'l, Inc. v. Ill. Trading Co.

• Decision Date: 21 January 2016
• Docket Number: No. 14–2776.,14–2776.
• Citation: 811 F.3d 247
• Parties: VLM FOOD TRADING INTERNATIONAL, INC., Plaintiff–Appellant, v. ILLINOIS TRADING COMPANY, The Obee Family Partnership, and Lawrence N. Oberman, Defendants–Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

811 F.3d 247

VLM FOOD TRADING INTERNATIONAL, INC., Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.ILLINOIS TRADING COMPANY, The Obee Family Partnership, and Lawrence N. Oberman, Defendants–Appellees.

No. 14–2776.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued Feb. 24, 2015.

Decided Jan. 21, 2016.

Michael J. Keaton, Attorney, Keaton Law Firm, Deerfield, IL, for Plaintiff–Appellant.

George L. Grumley, Attorney, Grumley Kamin & Rosic, Chicago, IL, for Defendants–Appellees.

Before EASTERBROOK, ROVNER, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.

SYKES, Circuit Judge.

This contract dispute between plaintiff VLM Food Trading International, Inc., a Canadian agricultural supplier, and Illinois Trading Company, an Illinois produce reseller, comes to us for a second time. (Illinois Trading is not the only defendant; its president and a controlling partnership are also named.) The issue in the first appeal was whether the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods applies to the parties' dispute. We held that it does. VLM Food Trading Int'l, Inc. v. Illinois Trading Co. ("VLM I "), 748 F.3d 780 (7th Cir.2014). On remand the district court ruled that under the Convention a contested attorney's fees provision in VLM's trailing invoices was not a part of the parties' contracts and granted summary judgment accordingly.

On appeal VLM challenges the judge's analysis of the attorney's fees provision under the Convention. VLM also takes issue with the judge's decision to give two of the three defendants the benefit of this ruling even though an order of default had been entered against them.

We reject these arguments and affirm. The district judge correctly held that because Illinois Trading never expressly assented to the attorney's fees provision in VLM's trailing invoices, under the Convention that term did not become a part of the parties' contracts. We also uphold the judge's finding that VLM waived its right to rely on the entry of default by failing to raise the issue until its reply brief on remand.

I. Background

VLM is a Montreal-based agricultural supplier. Illinois Trading is a reseller of agricultural produce. We laid out the full history of this litigation in VLM I, see id. at 782–84, and recount the relevant facts for purposes of this second appeal.

Starting in June 2012, VLM sold frozen potatoes to Illinois Trading through nine separate transactions without incident. Illinois Trading then encountered financial difficulty and failed to pay for the next nine shipments from VLM. The parties agree that each transaction occurred the same way. First, Illinois Trading sent a purchase order specifying the item, quantity, price, and place of delivery for the potatoes. Second, VLM responded with an e-mail confirming the terms of the sale. Third, VLM shipped the order and Illinois Trading accepted it. Finally, VLM followed up by mail with an invoice. Importantly for us, the trailing invoices included a provision purporting to make Illinois Trading liable for interest and collection-related attorney's fees if it breached the contracts.

When Illinois Trading stopped paying its invoices, VLM sued Illinois Trading; the Obee Family Partnership, which controlled Illinois Trading; and Lawrence Oberman, Illinois Trading's president. The defendants' first lawyer made an appearance but then withdrew. The defendants failed to hire another attorney in a timely fashion, and the deadline for filing an answer to VLM's complaint came and went. Therefore, on January 12, 2013, the district court granted a motion by VLM for an entry of default against Illinois Trading, the Partnership, and Oberman.

After belatedly securing new counsel, the defendants moved to vacate the entry of default. On February 12, 2013, the judge held a hearing and vacated the default as to Oberman only. All three defendants then filed an answer, even though Illinois Trading and the Partnership had been deemed in default. The answer admitted that the defendants owed VLM the purchase price for the produce plus interest but contested liability for attorney's fees. After a hearing on that issue, the judge applied Illinois's version of the Uniform Commercial Code and found that the attorney's fees provision had been incorporated into the parties' agreement.

We reversed, holding that the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods applies. VLM I, 748 F.3d at 787. On remand the judge applied the Convention and held that the attorney's fees provision was not part of the contracts. The judge also found that Illinois Trading and the Partnership could benefit from this ruling, despite the prior entry of default, because VLM waived the right to rely on the default by its litigation conduct before the first appeal and by failing to raise the default issue until its reply brief on remand.

II. Discussion

A. Attorney's Fees Under the Convention

As we've explained, the last time this case was here, we resolved a choice-of-law question and held that the Convention controls the interpretation of the parties' contracts. So our first question on this new appeal is whether the district judge correctly concluded that under the Convention the attorney's fees provision was not incorporated into the parties' contracts. We review de novo a district court's interpretation of a contract. Metavante Corp. v. Emigrant Sav. Bank, 619 F.3d 748, 763 (7th Cir.2010). Treaties have the same legal effect as statutes, and therefore a district court's interpretation of a treaty is reviewed de novo as well. Square D Co. & Subsidiaries v. Comm'r, 438 F.3d 739, 747 (7th Cir.2006).

The Convention's definition of the "loss" resulting from a breach of contract does not itself include attorney's fees. See United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods art. 74, Apr. 11, 1980, 1489 U.N.T.S. 3; 52 Fed.Reg. 6262 (Mar. 2, 1987) ("Damages for breach of contract by one party consist of a sum equal to the loss, including loss of profit, suffered by the other party as a consequence of the breach."); see also Zapata Hermanos Sucesores, S.A. v. Hearthside Baking Co., 313 F.3d 385, 389 (7th Cir.2002) (finding the allocation of legal fees to be a procedural issue not addressed in the Convention itself and therefore applying the appropriate domestic law). To succeed, VLM must show that its contracts with Illinois Trading expressly made Illinois Trading liable for VLM's attorney's fees in the event of a breach. To determine whether the fees provision was expressly accepted by Illinois Trading, we need to know when the terms of their agreement became binding.

A contract is formed under the Convention when there is a valid offer and acceptance. An offer is valid if it is "sufficiently definite and indicates the intention of the offeror to be bound in case of acceptance." Convention art. 14(1). An offer is "sufficiently definite" if it "indicates the goods and expressly or implicitly fixes or makes provision for determining the quantity and price." Id. Once a valid offer has been extended, the offeree can accept by words or conduct, but not by silence or inactivity. Id. art. 18(1). An acceptance "becomes effective at the moment the indication of assent reaches the offeror." Id. art. 18(2). Acceptance can also be demonstrated through the offeree's conduct, if allowed "as a result of practices which the parties have established between themselves or of usage." Id. art. 18(3).

So far so good—these contract principles are familiar and very similar to those expressed in the UCC. But as we noted in VLM I, the Convention departs dramatically from the UCC by using the common-law "mirror image" rule (sometimes called the "last shot" rule) to resolve "battles of the forms." 748 F.3d at 785–86 ; see also Roser Techs., Inc. v. Carl Schreiber GmbH, No. 11cv302 ERIE, 2013 WL 4852314, at *5 (W.D.Pa.2013) ("[W]ith respect to the battle of the forms, the determinative factor under the [Convention] is when the contract was formed. The terms of the contract are those embodied in the last offer (or counteroffer) made prior to a contract being formed."). Under the mirror-image rule, as expressed in Article 19(1) of the Convention, "[a] reply to an offer which purports to be an acceptance but contains additions, limitations or other modifications is a rejection of the offer and constitutes a counter-offer." ¹

Each Illinois Trading purchase order met all the Convention's criteria for an offer; they included sufficiently definite terms, were directed to VLM specifically, and indicated that Illinois Trading intended to be bound by VLM's acceptance. See Convention art. 14(1). Each of VLM's confirmation e-mails was, in turn, an effective acceptance of Illinois Trading's offer because each one confirmed and accepted the terms of the purchase order. Id. art. 18(1).² As such, the contracts were formed when Illinois Trading received VLM's confirmation e-mails. Id. art. 18(2). The attorney's fees provision was not part of the agreement described in the purchase orders and the e-mail confirmations; that term first appeared in the trailing invoices that were mailed to Illinois Trading after VLM delivered the produce.

Under the Convention VLM had already bound itself to the contracts proposed by Illinois Trading when it confirmed Illinois Trading's purchase offer by e-mail. The attorney's fees provision therefore could not have been a counteroffer. Rather, as we said in VLM I, "[i]f the contracts were formed before Illinois Trading received VLM's invoices—possibly via Illinois Trading's purchase orders and VLM's e-mail confirmations—then the attorney's fees and interest provisions would be proposed modifications to the contracts." 748 F.3d at 786. Under the mirror-image rule, a party does not have to object to a proposed modification in order to keep it from being incorporated; any term that is not "mirrored" in the offer and acceptance is excluded. Contracts can only be modified by agreement of the parties, Convention art. 29(1), and a...