Breach of Contract involving Subcontractors

[abcconstruction60]

What is the name of your state? What is the name of your state? Arkansas

I have a breach of contract (construction contract) case in the federal district court in Arkansas, which falls under the 8th circuit.

I filed my complaint on the fifth year of the statute of limitations for breach of contract pursuant to the Arkansas Code Annotated. Nevertheless, I filed other claims that are very substantially related to a breach of contract claim, such as Tort of Outrage (which has a limitation period of 3 years if filed alone), Fraud (which has 3 year limitations if filed alone), Detrimental Reliance, Breach of Promise and Promissory Estoppel also have 3 year statute of limitations.

My question is, "eing that these claims are substantially related to the claim of breach of contract, which have a 5 year statute of limitations, can I still claim, despite their 3 year statute of limitations, the other claims?

My thought on this is yes, I am still allowed to bring the 3 year statute of limitations claims because they are substantially related to the 5 year statute of limitation claim of breach of contract.
It is also my thought that if I had to bring those claims within 3 years, that would mean that my 5 year statute of limitations claim would be drastically reduced to 3 years also.
If I timely filed my 3 year statute of limitations claims, which reasonably relates to my 5 year statute of limitations claim then I would have 2 additional years to file my 5 year statute of limitation claim, which will be sort of like piecemealing my claims, which the court disfavors.

Please give me some input as I have until the 8th of January 2021 to respond to the Defendants' motion to dismiss based on statute of limitations.

Thank you

 

[adjusterjack]

How much money are you suing for?
What happened that gave rise to the lawsuit?
Are you a GC suing a sub or a sub suing a GC?
Why federal court instead of state court?
Why have you waited so long?
Does your opponent have a lawyer?
What do you hope to gain by throwing in all that stuff other than just breach of contract?

 

[zddoodah]

I have a breach of contract (construction contract) case in the federal district court in Arkansas, which falls under the 8th circuit.

It's worth pointing out that there are two federal districts in Arkansas. Using information you provided, I was able to look up the case on Pacer. Your case was filed on August 15, 2019 in the Eastern District of Arkansas. You sued a corporation and two individuals. You alleged a contract by which you were to be paid $75,000 in connection with the construction of a hotel. You alleged payment of $6,000 followed by termination of the contract on August 15, 2014 (which we later find out was the date on which you received the termination letter that was dated August 14, 2014). You alleged that the corporate defendant entered into the contract with "fraudulent intent" and that its conduct was "outrageous" (although you alleged no facts to support either of these conclusions). You alleged no specific conduct by the individual defendants, except that one of them signed the contract in his official capacity.

Not surprisingly, the defendants moved to dismiss because you failed to allege any basis for federal subject matter jurisdiction and, in November 2019, the court granted you the opportunity to amend your complaint, which you did in December 2019. However, the amended complaint added nothing in terms of a basis for federal subject matter jurisdiction. Surprisingly, the court did not order you to show cause why the case shouldn't be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and the defendants (presumably preferring federal court to state court) simply filed answers to the amended complaint.

On November 25, 2020, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss/motion for summary judgment. The basis of the motion is that all claims are time barred. This includes the breach of contract claim which the defendants argue accrued on August 14, 2014 (the date the termination letter was sent), not August 15, 2014 (the date you received the letter).

You failed to file a timely response to the defendants' motion, but the court ultimately gave you until January 14, 2021 to file a response. The defendants then filed a motion for summary judgment based on a lack of evidence for all of your claims.

With all that in mind, why did you file your case in federal court rather than state court, and why did you wait so long to file? As I will explain below, you made a massive mistake by waiting so long and by filing in federal court instead of state court.

My question is, "eing that these claims are substantially related to the claim of breach of contract, which have a 5 year statute of limitations, can I still claim, despite their 3 year statute of limitations, the other claims?

You can claim anything you like. However, each cause of action is subject to its own statute of limitations. You don't get to apply the five year breach of contract SOL to your other claims solely because the other claims arose out of the same set of facts as the contract claim. There is zero question that all of your non-contract claims will be dismissed because they are time barred. That will leave you with only the breach of contract claim. Even if the court does not dismiss that claim because of the SOL, it should dismiss it because there is no basis for federal subject matter jurisdiction. It was a $75k contract, and you admit to having been paid $6k. That means your damages are $69k, which is less than the $75,000.01 minimum needed to support diversity jurisdiction (and no, interest doesn't count for this purpose). Once the federal lawsuit is dismissed, you will be unable to pursue your claims in state court (where you should have filed in the first place) because the SOL has long since expired. Also, you might end up with a judgment against you for the defendants' attorneys' fees.

My thought on this is yes, I am still allowed to bring the 3 year statute of limitations claims because they are substantially related to the 5 year statute of limitation claim of breach of contract.

I assume this is something that you simply made up because it's what you'd like the law to be. Correct?

 

[adjusterjack]

OP has left the building.

 

[quincy]

The original post should be replaced soon. The post was only reported because “abcconstruction60” included his real name in the post.

 

[adjusterjack]

Can't the mods edit a post without temporarily removing it?

 

[quincy]

Can't the mods edit a post without temporarily removing it?

Yes. But it can take awhile for the moderator to edit a thread - and during that wait time the personal identifying information is available for all to see.

 

[zddoodah]

It was a $75k contract, and you admit to having been paid $6k. That means your damages are $69k, which is less than the $75,000.01 minimum needed to support diversity jurisdiction (and no, interest doesn't count for this purpose).

FWIW, and just adding to this, your damages would almost certainly be much less than $69k because you'd only be entitled to your profit, and a $75k drywall subcontract would not result in $75k in profit.