Venue Cancels, Gun Show a No Go.

[jedi]

Well outside of the great, corrupt, civilized and ONLY true county in Indiana, lake county ya are just rednecks. So why cant you just setup tents/canopies fleemarket style in one of the many parking lots of the abonded buildings ya have?

i promise our chicago thugs wont drive all the way to your gunshow for the gunshow loop hole.

keep us posted on the lawsuits.
seems rather dumb for a private firm to do this knowing what the lawsuit outcome will be.

 

[gundawg]

A couple of thoughts:

It's a breach of contract between private parties. Unless the party in breach (RCI, apparently) can hang a prior breach on Gunslinger, or can argue some other clause in the contract allowing them to cancel was triggered, they'll be liable.

Vendors will probably have claims against RCI as well, as "third party beneficiaries" of the contract. Their claims could be (and probably should be) consolidated with Gunslingers' claims.

Damages will be all damages that are "foreseeable". The kicker will be if plaintiffs' lawyers can figure out an angle for punitive damages. Punitive damages usually require some kind of gross irresponsibility or negligence or malicious conduct. They will surely argue for punitive damages; three times the actual damages is a typical legal standard for punitives.

I assume RCI has some kind of insurance coverage for issues like this. Their insurer is going to be pretty unhappy about having to defend/settle this mess. If they're smart they'll settle as fast as they can to avoid exposure to a big punitive damages award and they'll cancel RCI's coverage.

I think the legal term for RCI's position is "deep sh*t".

 

[zaxXxon]

A couple of thoughts:

It's a breach of contract between private parties. Unless the party in breach (RCI, apparently) can hang a prior breach on Gunslinger, or can argue some other clause in the contract allowing them to cancel was triggered, they'll be liable.

Vendors will probably have claims against RCI as well, as "third party beneficiaries" of the contract. Their claims could be (and probably should be) consolidated with Gunslingers' claims.

Damages will be all damages that are "foreseeable". The kicker will be if plaintiffs' lawyers can figure out an angle for punitive damages. Punitive damages usually require some kind of gross irresponsibility or negligence or malicious conduct. They will surely argue for punitive damages; three times the actual damages is a typical legal standard for punitives.

I assume RCI has some kind of insurance coverage for issues like this. Their insurer is going to be pretty unhappy about having to defend/settle this mess. If they're smart they'll settle as fast as they can to avoid exposure to a big punitive damages award and they'll cancel RCI's coverage.

I think the legal term for RCI's position is "deep sh*t".

These companies are apparently without care for profit when it comes to virtue signalling. Delta will lose millions in tax breaks just to deny a handful of people a flight discount for likes on Twitter. YouTube will deny their platform to gun channels costing them customers and ad revenue so they can push their cancerous social programming. Is this corporate tyranny? Little did we know that in growing these companies with our support and patronage they would be used to take our rights away.

 

[JettaKnight]

Is Chik-fil-a a bad company for closing on Sundays?

One man's "virtue signalling", is another man's "responding to customers", "doing the right thing", "putting people ahead of profits", etc... just depends on if you agree with the corporate position, I guess. Was Bank of Omaha "virtue signalling" to NRA members before they were virtue signalling to the anti-2A ground swell?



Also, is this a case of where, "just follow the money" breaks down?

 

[Rbooher7526]

Parkview Fieldhouse has canceled the Contract with Gunslinger Promotions. The Gunshow was scheduled for March 30-31 in Ft. Wayne. Gunslinger stated they will Sue, as they are only 1 year into a 7 year contract.

By the time they are sued for breaching a 9 year contract. Advertisement in two nation gun mags, the cost for thousands of flyers. And the lost profit, I think they'll regret their decisions. Especially since they only gave 7 days notice. Damage already done. Just shows you how cowardly some organizations are. I have a box of large softballs left from my days coaching girls softball. I would gladly donate a couple of those large softballs to members of the facility.

Sent from my SM-G965U1 using Tapatalk

 

[jedi]

These companies are apparently without care for profit when it comes to virtue signalling. Delta will lose millions in tax breaks just to deny a handful of people a flight discount for likes on Twitter. YouTube will deny their platform to gun channels costing them customers and ad revenue so they can push their cancerous social programming. Is this corporate tyranny? Little did we know that in growing these companies with our support and patronage they would be used to take our rights away.

oh come now your rights are not being taken by this private entity. only the .gov can ATTEMPT to take away your rights.
this is just a contract dispute which may end up costing one of them a lot of money and possible go out of biz if their insurance gets canned and they cant find new insurance.

 

[zaxXxon]

oh come now your rights are not being taken by this private entity. only the .gov can ATTEMPT to take away your rights.
this is just a contract dispute which may end up costing one of them a lot of money and possible go out of biz if their insurance gets canned and they cant find new insurance.

Did you know that banks, credit card companies and well as domain registrars have the capacity to deny you service should they disagree with your political opinion? But hey at least the Government isn't oppessing you.

 

[HoughMade]

A couple of thoughts:

It's a breach of contract between private parties. Unless the party in breach (RCI, apparently) can hang a prior breach on Gunslinger, or can argue some other clause in the contract allowing them to cancel was triggered, they'll be liable.

Vendors will probably have claims against RCI as well, as "third party beneficiaries" of the contract. Their claims could be (and probably should be) consolidated with Gunslingers' claims.

Damages will be all damages that are "foreseeable". The kicker will be if plaintiffs' lawyers can figure out an angle for punitive damages. Punitive damages usually require some kind of gross irresponsibility or negligence or malicious conduct. They will surely argue for punitive damages; three times the actual damages is a typical legal standard for punitives.

I assume RCI has some kind of insurance coverage for issues like this. Their insurer is going to be pretty unhappy about having to defend/settle this mess. If they're smart they'll settle as fast as they can to avoid exposure to a big punitive damages award and they'll cancel RCI's coverage.

I think the legal term for RCI's position is "deep sh*t".

Punitive damages are almost never recoverable in a contract action in Indiana. I don't see anything here that would support punitive damages.

One of the most cherished rights in contract law is the right to breach and pay damages when you calculate that the breach is the cheaper cost than carrying out the contract. I assume this is what they think.

The claimants have to make reasonable efforts to "affect cover", that is, to mitigate their damages by attempting to find a suitable location for the event. If they do and the fees are not greater and the exposure is equal, there may be no damages at all outside whatever the cost to find the alternative venue is.

It is unacceptable to sit around and decide not to have the event because one venue cancelled. If reasonable diligence is used and an appropriate alternative venue cannot be found, then full damages may be in order. This applies to the gun show organizers and the vendors. I agree that the vendors would like be 3rd party beneficiaries of the contract, but again, they must try to mitigate their damages.

 

[zaxXxon]

Is Chik-fil-a a bad company for closing on Sundays?

One man's "virtue signalling", is another man's "responding to customers", "doing the right thing", "putting people ahead of profits", etc... just depends on if you agree with the corporate position, I guess. Was Bank of Omaha "virtue signalling" to NRA members before they were virtue signalling to the anti-2A ground swell?



Also, is this a case of where, "just follow the money" breaks down?

Chik-fil-a to my knowledge has been closed on Sunday as a policy due to their religious convictions and not a punitive response to a portion of their customer base. Virtue signalling at its core is disingenuous as the person signalling is doing so in bad faith. Blowing in the wind, as it were.

 

[zaxXxon]

Excellent post, sir. Hopefully the event planners don't sit on their hands and assume an easy win in court.

 

[KittySlayer]

I emailed the Fieldhouse for the gun show hours and got the response below (I applied the red).



--------------------------------------------
On Mon, 3/26/18, ... wrote:
Subject: Re: Weekend Hours
Date: Monday, March 26, 2018, 1:42 PM

There will not be a gun and knife show at SportONE Fieldhouse this weekend.

Gym Rats LLC

--------------------------------------------
On 3/26/18, 1:31 PM, ... wrote:

What are the hours for this weekends gun and knife show?

 

[gundawg]

"Punitive damages are almost never recoverable in a contract action in Indiana. I don't see anything here that would support punitive damages."

Punies aren't commonly awarded in simple breach of contract cases, but to say "almost never" is an overreach.

We don't know what happened here. Punitive damages claims could easily survive initial motions to dismiss and move into discovery and discovery can be a b*tch. RCI's insurance company surely will have to take the potential into consideration when they try to settle.

"The claimants have to make reasonable efforts to "affect cover", that is, to mitigate their damages by attempting to find a suitable location for the event. If they do and the fees are not greater and the exposure is equal, there may be no damages at all outside whatever the cost to find the alternative venue is."

Obviously Gunslinger must try to find an alternative venue for future shows to establish the claims for future damages. But there can be little to no mitigation for the damages caused by the cancellation for this month's show. The damage is done for this show and the damages will amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Are you an insurance defense attorney?

 

[BobG23]

Saw this tonight. RCI offered an another location?
www.wpta21.com/story/37832873/one-gun-show-canceled-one-still-on-in-fort-wayne-this-spring

 

[KittySlayer]

Saw this tonight. RCI offered an another location?
www.wpta21.com/story/37832873/one-gun-show-canceled-one-still-on-in-fort-wayne-this-spring

Perhaps move the little kids events to the alternate location if the snowflakes safety is a real concern.

 

[HoughMade]

"Punitive damages are almost never recoverable in a contract action in Indiana. I don't see anything here that would support punitive damages."

Punies aren't commonly awarded in simple breach of contract cases, but to say "almost never" is an overreach.

We don't know what happened here. Punitive damages claims could easily survive initial motions to dismiss and move into discovery and discovery can be a b*tch. RCI's insurance company surely will have to take the potential into consideration when they try to settle.

"The claimants have to make reasonable efforts to "affect cover", that is, to mitigate their damages by attempting to find a suitable location for the event. If they do and the fees are not greater and the exposure is equal, there may be no damages at all outside whatever the cost to find the alternative venue is."

Obviously Gunslinger must try to find an alternative venue for future shows to establish the claims for future damages. But there can be little to no mitigation for the damages caused by the cancellation for this month's show. The damage is done for this show and the damages will amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Are you an insurance defense attorney?

I am a civil litigation trial attorney who's bills are frequently paid by insurers, but I generally (though not exclusively) represent healthcare providers in, not only tort actions, but licensing, compliance, ERISA and contract actions.

Until 1993, punitive damages were not recoverable in contract actions. Period. Then, when they were allowed, they were carefully circumscribed and I see nothing here that would allow for them:

We hold that in order to recover punitive damages in a lawsuit founded upon a breach of contract, the plaintiff must plead and prove the existence of an independent tort of the kind for which Indiana law recognizes that punitive damages may be awarded.

Having stated the proper legal standard for punitive damages in contract cases, we now address the parties' contentions as to whether the evidence presented in this case was sufficient. Best Beers claims the following evidence supports the imposition of punitive damages:

1) Miller employees made false statements (to their superiors) about Best Beers' sales efforts.
2) Miller employees made false statements (to their superiors) about the conduct of Best Beers' employees.
3) Miller made accusations in its termination letter which weren't supported by its own employees' reports.
4) Miller tolerated overage beer in the market after terminating Best Beers ostensibly because Best Beers had permitted overage beer to remain in the market.
5) A Miller employee said she would not rate Best Beers' performance as satisfactory no matter how well they did.
6) Miller solicited unfavorable comments about Best Beers in writing from selected retailers.

Best Beers does not seriously contend that there was sufficient evidence of an independent tort upon which punitive damages could have been awarded, but merely asserts that the above evidence is clear and convincing evidence of a “serious wrong tortious in nature.” As discussed above, such evidence is insufficient to support an award of punitive damages in a breach of contract case. At best, such evidence establishes that Miller wrongfully terminated the contract, for which Best Beers was awarded compensatory damages. Under elementary contract principles, those compensatory damages fully compensate Best Beers to the extent allowed by law for all losses suffered by it as a result of the breach of contract. We discern nothing, based on the evidence presented at trial, compelling the conclusion that Best Beers is entitled to punitive damages.

Miller Brewing Co. v. Best Beers of Bloomington, Inc., 608 N.E.2d 975, 984 (Ind. 1993).

Still the law.

With regard to the breach of contract claim, the Indiana Supreme Court has “consistently stated the general rule that punitive damages are not allowed in a breach of contract action.” Miller Brewing Co. v. Best Beers of Bloomington, Inc., 608 N.E.2d 975, 981 (Ind.1993). “n order to recover punitive damages in a lawsuit founded upon a breach of contract, the plaintiff must plead and prove the existence of an independent tort of the kind for which Indiana law recognizes that punitive damages may be awarded.” Id .

Lancaster v. Avon Products, Inc., 2:15-CV-148-WTL-WGH, 2015 WL 4532751, at *2 (S.D. Ind. July 27, 2015).

Any defense attorney worth his salt IF punitive damages discovery is done before the merits of the claim are the subject of a dispositive motion (more like MJP or MSJ), would ensure that it is done under a confidentiality agreement or protective order....an no judge that I am aware of would deny it.