FORSTER V. BOSS 97 F.3d 1127 (8th Cir. 1996) CASE BRIEF

FORSTER V. BOSS

97 F.3d 1127 (8th Cir. 1996)

NATURE OF THE CASE: Boss (D), sellers, appealed the judgment of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, which awarded Forster (P), buyers, compensatory damages for fraud and breach of contract and also awarded punitive damages and a permanent injunction.

FACTS: Ds agreed to sell property to Ps. Ds represented that Ps could obtain a permit for a boat dock in front of their newly acquired property. In fact, unknown to Ps, Ds had a boat-dock permit of their own that made it impossible for Ps to obtain the permit they had been promised. Ds do not contest the finding that they were guilty of fraud in this respect. And, in fact, when Ps applied to Union Electric Company (which created the lake and has the right to grant permits) for a permit, their application was denied on the ground that Ds, already had a conflicting permit. To compensate the plaintiffs for this fraud, the jury awarded $12,250 in compensatory damages and $10,000 in punitive damages. When the property was sold, Ds promised that they would remove their swim dock from in front of the transferred property. They did not keep this promise. The jury awarded $2,500 in compensatory damages to Ps on account of this breach of contract. Ps also got a permanent injunction ordering Ds to remove the offending swim dock. In addition, and most important, they got their boat-dock permit from Union Electric. Union was a party defendant in the District Court. This appeal followed.

ISSUE:

RULE OF LAW:

HOLDING AND DECISION:

LEGAL ANALYSIS:

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