Appeal
from the District Court of Teton County The Honorable Timothy
C. Day, Judge
Representing Appellant: Gerard R. Bosch, Law Offices of Jerry
Bosch, Wilson, Wyoming.
Representing Appellees: Bret F. King and Jeremy Macik of King
and King, LLC, Jackson, Wyoming.
Before
DAVIS, C.J., and BURKE [*] , FOX, KAUTZ, and BOOMGAARDEN, JJ.
KAUTZ,
JUSTICE.
[¶1]
Appellant, Action Snowmobile & RV, Inc. (Action), filed a
complaint against Appellees, Most Wanted Performance, LLC and
one of its owners, Trevor Eva (collectively referred to as
Most Wanted), regarding the circumstances under which Most
Wanted purchased Action. Action brought claims of fraud,
negligent misrepresentation, conversion, and civil
conspiracy. The district court granted summary judgment in
favor of Most Wanted on all claims. Action appeals the
district court's decision. We affirm.
ISSUES
[¶2]
In this appeal, Action has raised six issues which can be
condensed into the following four:
1. Did the district court err when it granted summary
judgment in favor of Most Wanted on Action's fraud claim?
2. Did the district court err when it granted summary
judgment in favor of Most Wanted on Action's negligent
misrepresentation claim?
3. Did the district court err when it granted summary
judgment in favor of Most Wanted on Action's civil
conspiracy claim?
4. Did the district court err when it granted summary
judgment in favor of Most Wanted on Action's conversion
claim?
FACTS
[¶3]
Action was the only licensed Polaris snowmobile dealership in
Teton County, Wyoming, and was run by its president, Shaun
King. Most Wanted was a competitor company in Jackson, and
while it did not sell snowmobiles, it offered maintenance
service for snowmobiles and after-market add-ons and
accessories. Most Wanted hoped to sell snowmobiles in the
future and had called Polaris to inform the company of its
interest. Although Polaris told Most Wanted it could not
offer it a dealership, Mr. Eva was certain Mr. King and
Action would eventually lose the Polaris license due to
mismanagement.
[¶4]
There were hard feelings between Mr. King and the owners of
Most Wanted, much of which revolved around a performance part
developed by Most Wanted that solved a recurring problem on
Polaris snowmobiles. Mr. King and another one of his
entities, Redneck Racing, had previously sued Most Wanted,
claiming ownership of the performance part. According to Mr.
Eva, Mr. King and Redneck Racing ended up losing the lawsuit
that has become known as the "Redneck litigation."
[¶5]
In November 2012, a company called CW Buffalo Partners, LLC
(CW Buffalo) (owned by Dave Willis and Kevin Donovan)
contacted Action and expressed interest in managing
Action. On January 23, 2013, Action (through Mr. King)
executed an Asset Purchase Agreement and a Management
Agreement with CW Buffalo. On March 15, 2013, CW Buffalo and
Action sold Action to Most Wanted for $234, 000. The sale was
memorialized with an Agreement for the Purchase and Sale of
Assets and was signed by Mr. King and Mr. Willis on behalf of
Action and CW Buffalo. On March 27, 2013, Action, Most Wanted
and Polaris executed a Transfer and Assumption Agreement,
which transferred Action's Polaris inventory to Most
Wanted.
[¶6]
In September 2014, Action filed a complaint against CW
Buffalo, accusing CW Buffalo of fraud, negligent
misrepresentation, and conversion during the 2013
transactions involving Action, CW Buffalo and Most Wanted.
That lawsuit has been resolved, although the final outcome is
not found in the record. Thereafter, Action filed a complaint
against Most Wanted for fraud, negligent misrepresentation,
civil conspiracy, and conversion relating to the same
transactions. Generally, Action alleged that CW Buffalo and
Most Wanted worked together to fraudulently convince Mr. King
to sell Action so that Most Wanted could have the Polaris
dealership.
[¶7]
Most Wanted filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing no
facts existed to support the claims in Action's
complaint. In support of the motion, Most Wanted attached Mr.
Eva's affidavit and accompanying exhibits, which
explained the time line of all the transactions and any
conversations he had with Mr. Willis and CW Buffalo. He also
explained how he came into possession of Action's
inventory. The exhibits to Mr. Eva's affidavit also
included all of the agreements in question between the
parties. Action opposed the motion and attached Mr.
King's affidavit in support of its position. Action later
filed a supplemental memorandum in opposition to summary
judgment to which it attached Mr. Eva's deposition
transcript, Mr. King's affidavit provided in the lawsuit
against CW Buffalo, and paperwork associated with some of the
snowmobiles Most Wanted acquired from Action. After a
hearing, the district court determined Action had failed to
provide any evidence that would support the claims in the
complaint and, consequently, granted summary judgment in
favor of Most Wanted. Action filed a timely notice of appeal.
STANDARD
OF REVIEW
[¶8]
We review a district court's summary judgment order
de novo. ...