General Metals of Tacoma, Inc. v. Bean Environmental LLC

MEMORANDUM *

The central argument of Bean Environmental and Bean Dredging (collectively *463 Bean) is that the jury instructions and verdict form did not give Bean a fair opportunity to defeat the breach of contract claim by General Metals and Arkema (collectively HHCG), on the theory of material innocent misrepresentation.

Bean did not raise material innocent misrepresentation as an affirmative defense in its answer. Nor did Bean’s proposed Instruction No. 32 correctly present this theory. In any event, Bean did not preserve the issue, for it failed to object to the district court’s failure to give this instruction. The district court did instruct the jury on the negligent misrepresentation and fraud theories that Bean urged. Bean did not object to Instruction No. 11, which set out Bean’s affirmative defenses.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 51(c)(1) provides that “[a] party who objects to an instruction or the failure to give an instruction must do so on the record, stating distinctly the matter objected to and the grounds for the objection.” Assignments of error are limited, under Rule 51(d)(1), to instructional errors properly objected to, and to failures to give…