CPI Advanced, Inc. v. Kong Byung Woo Comm. Ind., Co.

MEMORANDUM **

Plaintiff CPI, a California corporation, sued defendants KBW and Chang in federal district court on April 17, 2003, alleging breach of contract and fraud in connection with a contract the parties entered into on February 2, 1993. The district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), holding that California’s statute of limitations on contract actions barred its claims for relief. We review the district court’s dismissal for failure to state a claim de novo. Decker v. Advantage Fund, Ltd., 362 F.3d 593, 595-96 (9th Cir.2004). For the purposes of this appeal, we take as true the facts alleged in CPI’s complaint, and we construe them in the light most favorable to CPI. Cervantes v. United States, 330 F.3d 1186, 1187 (9th Cir.2003).

Under the contract, the last possible date on which the defendants could fulfill their financial obligations to CPI was February 2, 1998. Since California has a four-year statute of limitations on contract claims, CPI’s suit is to be barred by the statute of limitations absent some kind of tolling. Cal.Code Civ. Proc. § 337. In its complaint, CPI alleged that defendants were estopped…