Granite State Insurance Company v. Smart Modular Technologies, Inc.
Opinion
Opinion
Thompson, J.
Smart Modular Technologies, Inc. (SMT) and Samsung Semiconductor Inc. (Samsung) entered into an agreement for SMT to build Single Inline Memory Modules (SIMM boards) for Samsung. A component of the SIMM board was a dynamic random access memory chip (DRAM). Samsung owned the DRAMs and delivered them to SMT for SMT to use in building the boards. Samsung retained title to the DRAMs while they were in SMT’s possession.
The present dispute arises out of the theft of over $1 million worth of DRAMs from SMT’s facility. Samsung’s insurer, Granite State Insurance Company (Granite), paid Samsung for the loss and then sought recovery from SMT, asserting its subrogation rights to Samsung’s claims for breach of contract and negligence. During a jury trial, the district court granted SMT’s motion for judgment as a matter of law. The district court ruled that SMT’s affirmative defenses of waiver and equitable estoppel precluded Granite’s breach of contract and negligence claims. Granite appeals.
We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm. We conclude SMT’s defense of equitable estoppel precludes Granite from pursuing its claims for breach of contract and negligence. We do not…