POLLAK, Judge.
On April 1, 2009, Kamco Industrial Sales, Inc. ("Kamco"), the plaintiff in this diversity action, filed a complaint alleging that defendant Lovejoy, Inc. ("Lovejoy") committed breach of contract and violated the Pennsylvania Commissioned Sales Representative Act, 43 Pa. Stat. § 1471 et seq. ("PCSRA"). After the close of discovery, Lovejoy filed a motion for summary judgment. For the reasons presented below, Lovejoy's summary judgment motion will be granted in part and denied in part.
In 1988, Kendall Morrison founded plaintiff Kamco, which is a Pennsylvania corporation with its principal place of business in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Kamco serves as a commissioned sales representative, marketing products for use in the power transmission industry. Lovejoy, which is an Illinois corporation with its principal place of business in Downers Grove, Illinois, is a manufacturer and distributor of couplings and other power transmission component parts. On December 18, 2003, the parties entered into the Lovejoy, Inc.-Kamco Industrial Products, Inc. Sales Representative Agreement (the "Agreement"), through which Kamco became a commissioned sales representative for Lovejoy.
Under the terms of the Agreement, Lovejoy authorized Kamco to sell Lovejoy's products in Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia, and portions of Pennsylvania and New Jersey (the "Territory"). See Agreement ¶ 6.
Id. ¶ 7(c) (hereinafter "House Account provision").
The Agreement also contained other provisions relevant to the present dispute. First, it contained a noncompetition provision which stated that Kamco could not "offer, promote or sell any product which is directly competitive with any product [Kamco] is to offer, promote or sell" for Lovejoy without Lovejoy's written consent. Id. ¶ 2. Second, it provided that during the first six months of the Agreement Kamco would be entitled to a three percent (3%) commission on sales to pre-existing customers, and an eight percent (8%) commission on all "new business" generated by Kamco. Id. ¶¶ 9-10. After the first six months, the commission rate for all business would be five percent (5%), irrespective of whether the business was classified as new or pre-existing. Id. ¶ 11. Third, with respect to termination, the Agreement provided that it would last for one year and would be automatically renewed for one-year periods thereafter unless terminated in writing by either party 60 days before the start of a new one-year term. Id. ¶ 16.
Pursuant to the Agreement, Kamco began operating as a commissioned manufacturer's sales representative for Lovejoy on January 1, 2004. Kamco marketed couplings and a variety of other products manufactured and sold by Lovejoy for use in the power transmission industry. The parties operated under the Agreement for several years without any serious disputes arising. During that period, Kamco also served as an independent sales agent for at least eight different manufacturers other than Lovejoy. See Def.'s Ex. D, Pl.'s Resp. to Lovejoy's Interrog. No. 2, at 2.
Prior to 2009, defendant Lovejoy made changes to the list of House Accounts on three occasions. First, in May 2006, defendant Lovejoy decided to remove a customer named Ingersoll-Rand from the House Account list and redefine it as a Kamco account. Lovejoy's Director of Sales Douglas Durham explained in his deposition that Kamco's owner Ken Morrison:
See Pl.'s Ex. 3, Durham Dep. at 21:10-19; see also Pl.'s Ex. 5, Letter from Mike Power, Lovejoy, to Ken Morrison, Kamco, May 17, 2006 (providing that Kamco would have account responsibility for Ingersoll-Rand effective May 1, 2006). Second, in October 2008, Ingersoll-Rand was redefined as a House Account after another
The dispute that gave rise to this lawsuit emerged in January 2009. In the months before then, Lovejoy, like many American businesses, experienced falling revenues due to the economic downturn. In response, Lovejoy began taking measures to reduce its costs. For example, David Mortensen, Lovejoy's Vice President of Sales and Marketing, negotiated commission reductions with two other outside sales agents. See Def.'s Ex. A, Mortensen Dep. at 70:21-71:3. Lovejoy also contemplated terminating its Agreement with Kamco. See Pl.'s Ex. 7, Email from Douglas Durham, Lovejoy, to David Mortensen, Lovejoy, Oct. 8, 2008 (suggesting that Lovejoy "could also look at cancelling Kamco"). However, Lovejoy elected not to terminate the Agreement and instead allowed it to automatically renew for an additional year on January 1, 2009.
On January 8, 2009, Mortensen, of Lovejoy, called Morrison, of Kamco, to discuss the parties' Agreement. During the course of the conversation, Mortensen acknowledged that, under the Agreement's termination provision, the Agreement could not be terminated until the end of the year. However, he explained that Lovejoy wanted to terminate the Agreement to save money and offered to pay Kamco commissions for three months in exchange for the termination of the agreement. At his deposition, Mortensen testified as follows regarding the conversation:
See Pl.'s Ex. 4, Mortensen Dep. at 7:6-8:4; 10:3-11. In his deposition, Morrison likewise testified that Lovejoy proposed to pay Kamco commissions through the end of March 2009 and then to terminate the contract. Pl.'s Ex. 1, Morrison Dep. 116:14-117:3.
See Def.'s Ex. A, Mortensen Dep. at 14:10-22. Morrison similarly testified that Mortensen told him during the follow-up conversation that Lovejoy had "the right to make all the accounts in [Kamco's] territory house accounts." Pl.'s Ex. 1, Morrison Dep. at 117:23-118:1; see also Pl.'s Ex. 12, Letter from Ken Morrison, Kamco, to David Mortensen, Lovejoy, March 6, 2009 ("On January 8, 2009, you told me that unless I accepted immediate termination of my contract with Lovejoy with payment of commission only through March 2009, Lovejoy would convert all of my customers to house accounts.").
Morrison ultimately told Mortensen that he would not agree to the proposed termination of the Agreement at the end of March 2009. Mortensen then began planning to follow through on his suggestion that he would redefine commissioned accounts as House Accounts. On January 15, 2009, Mortensen wrote to Lovejoy's Chief Financial Officer proposing that Lovejoy "send [Kamco] a new Addendum [A] with many more accounts on it that basically includes all Kamco's current accounts...." Pl.'s Ex. 9, Email from David Mortensen, Lovejoy, to Woody Haddix, Lovejoy, January 15, 2009 (emphasis added). The following day Mortensen wrote to another Lovejoy employee, asking her to develop a list of all of Kamco's accounts:
Pl.'s Ex. 10, Email from David Mortensen, Lovejoy, to Yesenia Mojica, Lovejoy, January 16, 2009 (emphases added).
Three days later, on January 19, 2009, Mortensen sent Kamco a letter which said the following:
Account # Account Name 27237001 Bartlett Bearing 8751001 FL Smidth Minerals 15069001 Magnatech International Inc.
Pl.'s Ex. 11, Letter from Mortensen to Morrison, January 19, 2009. The new Addendum A attached to the letter included 125 House Accounts, including the original six House Accounts. When asked at his deposition how the accounts on the new Addendum A were selected, Douglas Durham, Lovejoy's Director of Sales, stated
On March 6, 2009, Morrison wrote to Mortensen a letter which stated, in relevant part:
Pl.'s Ex. 12, Letter from Morrison to Mortensen, March 6, 2009. The letter further stated that Kamco "expect[ed] to be paid commissions on all sales placed in our territory" until December 2009. Id.
A few weeks later, on April 1, 2009, Kamco filed its complaint in the present action. See Dkt. 1. The complaint contains two counts. The first count alleges that Lovejoy's redefinition of substantially all of the accounts previously handled by Kamco as "House Accounts" breached the contract's implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. The first count also alleges that Lovejoy's removal of substantially all of Kamco's territory constituted constructive termination of the Agreement, in violation of the Agreement's termination provisions. The second count alleges that Lovejoy violated the Pennsylvania Commissioned Sales Representative Act, 43 Pa. Stat. § 1471 et seq. ("PCSRA" or "Act") by willfully failing to pay commissions that Kamco would have been paid had Lovejoy not redefined the House Accounts. Kamco seeks approximately $45,000 in damages for unpaid commissions. It also seeks exemplary damages and attorneys fees under the PCSRA.
Following the filing of the complaint, and for the remainder of 2009, Kamco continued to service the three remaining non-House Accounts and to abide by the Agreement's non-compete provision. Pl.'s Ex. 1, Morrison Dep. at 6:2-14; Pl.'s Ex. 4, Mortensen Dep. at 26:21-24. Moreover, from February until December 2009 Lovejoy paid Kamco commissions for the three accounts. Def.'s Ex. C., Morrison Dep. at 142:15-143:12. On October 7, 2009, Lovejoy sent a letter to Kamco informing Kamco that it was providing 60 days notice of termination and that the Agreement would therefore terminate on December 31, 2009. On November 2, 2009, counsel for Kamco wrote to counsel for Lovejoy an email that stated, in relevant part:
Pl.'s Ex. 14, Email from Mitchell Kramer to Carlin Metzger, November 2, 2009. Kamco claims that it never received a response to the request it made in this letter. Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Mot. for Summ. Judg. at 12.
Following discovery, defendant Lovejoy filed the motion for summary judgment presently before the court. In its motion, Lovejoy argues that Kamco has waived all of its claims in this suit by (a) continuing to accept payment for the three accounts and (b) continuing to abide by the non-compete agreement even after Kamco asserted that Lovejoy had constructively terminated the agreement. Lovejoy also argues that Kamco is not entitled to recover on its claim for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Finally, Lovejoy argues that Kamco's claim does not fall within the coverage of the PCSRA.
Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56, a court may grant summary judgment when "the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c). A fact is material when "its resolution `might affect the outcome of the suit under the governing law,' and a dispute about a material fact is genuine `if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could return a verdict for the nonmoving party.'" Justofin v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 372 F.3d 517, 521 (3d Cir.2004) (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 248, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)).
In analyzing the evidence, the court "should draw all reasonable inferences against the moving party." El v. Se. Pa. Transp. Auth., 479 F.3d 232, 238 (3d Cir. 2007) (citations omitted). However, the non-moving party must "adduce more than a mere scintilla of evidence in its favor," Anderson, 477 U.S. at 249, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (citations omitted), and cannot "simply reassert factually unsupported allegations contained in its pleadings." Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 325, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986).
Under Pennsylvania law,
Lovejoy argues that Kamco's waiver of its claims in this action may be inferred from Kamco's conduct. As noted above, Kamco continued to service the three remaining non-House Accounts and to abide by the non-compete provision even after informing Lovejoy in March 2009 that Kamco believed the Agreement had been constructively terminated and after filing this lawsuit in April 2009.
The main difficulty with Lovejoy's waiver argument is that Kamco has consistently made express statements and taken actions demonstrating its intent not to waive its claims. See 13 Williston on Contracts § 39:22 (4th ed. 2010) ("Waiver by implication, or waiver inferred from a party's conduct, will not be found contrary to the expressed intention of the party whose rights would be injuriously affected by it, unless the other party has been misled by such conduct to his or her prejudice.").
Under these circumstances, the "reasonable inference" to be drawn from Kamco's conduct and statements is that Kamco sought to simultaneously pursue this suit and to mitigate damages—not that Kamco intended to waive its claims in this action. Prime Medica Assocs., 970 A.2d at 1157. Accordingly, this court finds that Kamco's conduct, when viewed in light of its statements, is not so "clear, unequivocal and decisive" as to evince an "evident purpose" to waive its claims in this action. Commonwealth ex rel. Corbett, 946 A.2d at 679.
Federal courts exercising diversity jurisdiction must apply state law as it has been interpreted by the state's highest court. Borman v. Raymark Indus., Inc., 960 F.2d 327, 331 (3d Cir.1992). If the state's highest court "has not addressed the issue, the federal court must predict its holding." Id. In making predictions, the decisions of state intermediate appellate courts are not dispositive, but should be accorded significant weight in the absence of an indication that the highest state court would rule otherwise. See Rolick v. Collins Pine Co., 925 F.2d 661, 664 (3d Cir.1991); see also Coppola v. JNESO Pocono Med. Ctr., 400 Fed.Appx. 683, 683-84 (3d Cir.2010).
Kamco's complaint asserts that Lovejoy breached the Agreement's implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by
Subsequent to Ash, several diversity courts have predicted that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would adopt Section 205 of the Restatement. See Zaloga v. Provident Life & Accident Ins. Co. of America, 671 F.Supp.2d 623, 629-30 (M.D.Pa.2009); Western Sur. Co. v. WGG, Inc., 2009 WL 222429, *3 (M.D.Pa.2009); Fitzpatrick v. State Farm Ins. Co., 2010 WL 2103954, *3 (W.D.Pa.2010); but see Leder v. Shinfeld, 609 F.Supp.2d 386, 400 (E.D.Pa.2009). This court agrees that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court would adopt Section 205 of the Restatement if squarely confronted with the question. The evidence supporting this prediction was well-summarized by the Zaloga court, which noted that:
671 F.Supp.2d at 630 (alteration in original). In addition, this court finds that the
The duty to act in good faith "varies somewhat with the context ..., but it is possible to recognize certain strains of bad faith which include: evasion of the spirit of the bargain, lack of diligence and slacking off, willful rendering of imperfect performance, abuse of a power to specify terms, and interference with or failure to cooperate in the other party's performance." Somers v. Somers, 418 Pa.Super. 131, 613 A.2d 1211, 1213 (1992) (citation omitted). The duty of good faith applies "only in limited circumstances" because "[i]mplied duties cannot trump the express provisions in the contract."
While there may be some marginal uncertainty regarding whether the Pennsylvania
When a contract's terms are "clear and unambiguous, the intent of the parties is to be ascertained from the document itself." Ins. Adjustment Bureau, 905 A.2d at 468 (citation omitted). However, when "an ambiguity exists, parol evidence is admissible to explain or clarify or resolve the ambiguity, irrespective of whether the ambiguity is patent, created by the language of the instrument, or latent, created by extrinsic or collateral circumstances." Id. (citations omitted). In addition, "`[w]herever reasonable, the manifestations of intention of the parties to a promise or agreement are interpreted as consistent with each other and with any relevant course of performance, course of dealing, or usage of trade.'" Sunbeam Corp. v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 566 Pa. 494, 781 A.2d 1189, 1193 (2001) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Contracts § 202(5)).
With these principles in mind, this court turns to Kamco's claim that Lovejoy breached the implied covenant of good faith in its performance of the Agreement by classifying all but three of Kamco's accounts as House Accounts. As noted above, the Agreement states that:
Complaint at Ex. 1 ¶ 7(c) (emphasis added). In its summary judgment motion, Lovejoy argues that the House Account provision grants it an "unfettered right to redefine the House Accounts." Def.'s Br. at 8 (emphasis added). In defense of this interpretation, Lovejoy notes that the "word `current' identifies the then-current House Accounts listed on Addendum A and signifies that the list of House Accounts could change in the future." Therefore, according to Lovejoy, "redefining the House Accounts does not constitute a breach of the Agreement." Id.
As an initial matter, it should be noted that the House Accounts provision does not contain any express statement that Lovejoy has the right to redefine all accounts as House Accounts. Rather, it makes the more ambiguous statement that Kamco had the exclusive right to sell Lovejoy products in its territory, with the "exception[]" that "[n]o commissions will be paid on House Account sales" and "[t]he Company reserves the right to redefine these accounts." Agreement ¶ 7(c) (emphasis added). Because the House Accounts are described as an "exception" to Kamco's general right to sell Lovejoy products, there is reason, even when looking at the House Accounts provision in isolation, to question whether it confers upon Lovejoy an "unfettered" right to redefine all accounts as House Accounts.
The more significant problem with Lovejoy's argument that it had an "unfettered"
Agreement ¶ 16. The Agreement also provides for termination by either party under certain additional circumstances, including (1) a change of 50% or more of the ownership of the other party; (2) the other party's unreasonable and repeated failure to perform the terms and conditions of the Agreement; or (3) the other party's filing of a bankruptcy petition. Id. Finally, the Agreement expressly contemplates that the parties could terminate the Agreement at any time by "mutual written agreement." Id.
The termination provision, on its face, provides a comprehensive account of the ways in which the Agreement may be terminated. There is no indication in the Agreement that the parties contemplated that the House Accounts provision would constitute an additional means for terminating all of Lovejoy's obligations under the Agreement. Under Lovejoy's construction of the House Accounts provision, however, Lovejoy could, at any time and without Kamco's consent, redefine every single account in Kamco's territory as a House Account. This interpretation would allow Lovejoy to escape from all of its obligations under the Agreement and all of the restrictions in the termination provision.
This reading is inconsistent with Pennsylvania law, which, as noted above, forbids courts from "interpret[ing] one provision of a contract in a manner which results in another portion being annulled," LJL Transp., 962 A.2d at 648 (citation omitted), and requires that "[t]he whole instrument ... be taken together in arriving at contractual intent," Duquesne Univ., 777 A.2d at 429 (citation omitted). For example, the termination provision permits the parties to terminate the agreement at any time by "mutual written agreement." Agreement ¶ 16. Lovejoy's interpretation of the House Accounts provision, however, would allow it—without obtaining Kamco's consent—to terminate all of its obligations under the Agreement at any time simply by redefining all of Kamco's accounts as House Accounts. In other words, the "mutual" termination provision would never apply to Lovejoy.
Similarly, Lovejoy's reading of the House Accounts provision would allow it to escape the effects of the 60 day notice requirement, under which the Agreement automatically renews for a full year unless either party provides notice of its intention to terminate the Agreement 60 days before the end of an annual term. Id. The evident purpose of this provision is to permit both parties to make business plans in reliance on the contract's continued existence for a one year period.
This court's conclusion that Lovejoy's reading of the House Accounts provision is inconsistent with the parties' intent is reinforced by the fact that the Agreement contains a non-compete provision. The noncompetition provision states that Kamco could not, without Lovejoy's permission, sell any product which is directly competitive with any Lovejoy product that Kamco was supposed to sell on Lovejoy's behalf. Id. ¶ 2. If, as Lovejoy suggests, the House Accounts provision granted Lovejoy the "unfettered" right to redefine all or substantially all accounts as House Accounts, then Lovejoy would have the unilateral power to deprive Kamco of all of the benefits it was to receive under the contract while simultaneously barring Kamco from selling any product made by a Lovejoy competitor. Such a result would plainly seem to be contrary to Kamco's "reasonable expectations" when it entered the Agreement. Duquesne Light Co. v. Westinghouse Elec. Corp., 66 F.3d 604, 617 (3d Cir.1995).
The inconsistency between the termination provision and the House Accounts provision disappears if the House Accounts provision is read to contain an implied covenant of good faith governing Lovejoy's exercise of discretion in its designation of House Accounts. Good faith duties are implied "where it is clear that an obligation is within the contemplation of the parties at the time of contracting or is necessary to carry out their intentions." Slater v. Pearle Vision Center, Inc., 376 Pa.Super. 580, 546 A.2d 676, 679 (1988); see also Duquesne Light, 66 F.3d at 617 (noting that "courts generally utilize the good faith duty as an interpretive tool to determine the parties' justifiable expectations"). This court finds that, reading the Agreement as a whole, Kamco possessed a justifiable expectation that, at a minimum, Lovejoy would not use its discretion under the House Accounts provision to deprive Kamco of its benefits under the Agreement by redefining all or substantially all of Kamco's accounts as House Accounts.
Turning to the facts of this case, it is undisputed that Lovejoy internally contemplated terminating the Agreement in the fall of 2008 but opted to allow it to automatically renew for an additional full year term. It is also undisputed that, in January 2009, after Kamco declined to agree to a mutual termination of the Agreement, David Mortensen, one of defendant Lovejoy's employees, wrote an internal email stating that Lovejoy's "goal [was] to transfer all of [Kamco's accounts] to house accounts," with the result that Kamco would receive "no commissions because all the accounts will be house accounts." Thereafter, Lovejoy redefined all but three of Kamco's accounts to be House Accounts. Pl.'s Ex. 10. Under these circumstances, genuine issues of fact remain regarding whether Lovejoy's conduct regarding the House Accounts violated the duty of good faith and fair dealing.
It should be noted, however, that Count I of Kamco's complaint alleges that Lovejoy committed breach of contract not only by violating the covenant of good faith and fair dealing but also by "constructively terminating" the agreement. In its summary judgment motion, defendant Lovejoy argues that Pennsylvania courts have not recognized constructive termination claims outside of the contexts of employment law and franchise agreements. See Def.'s Br. at 12. Kamco's opposition brief does not respond to this argument, or make any attempt to defend Kamco's constructive termination theory. Instead, Kamco's defense of its breach of contract claim focuses exclusively on whether Lovejoy violated the covenant of good faith and fair dealing. See Pl.'s Opp. Br. at 13-22. This court therefore finds that Kamco has waived its constructive termination claim. See Ray v. Pinnacle Health Hosps., Inc., 416 Fed. Appx. 157, at 162, 2010 WL 4704455, at *4 (3d Cir.2010) ("`If a party fails to assert a legal reason why summary judgment should not be granted, that ground is waived. ...'" (quoting Grenier v. Cyanamid Plastics, Inc., 70 F.3d 667, 678 (1st Cir.1995))).
Accordingly, Lovejoy's request for summary judgment on Kamco's breach of contract claim will be denied with respect to Kamco's theory that Lovejoy committed a breach of the covenant of good faith, but granted with respect to Kamco's constructive termination theory.
Kamco alleges that Lovejoy violated the PCSRA by willfully failing to pay commissions that Kamco would have been paid had Lovejoy not redefined the House Accounts. Lovejoy argues that it is entitled to summary judgment because plaintiff is not a "sales representative" under the PCSRA, which requires that sales representatives
The PCSRA provides that a "principal shall pay a sales representative all commissions due at the time of termination within 14 days after termination" and "all commissions that become due after termination within 14 days of the date such commissions become due." 43 Pa. Stat. §§ 1473-74. If a principal "willfully" violates these provisions, then the sales representative may bring a civil action to collect all unpaid commissions plus exemplary damages and attorneys' fees. Id. § 1475. The Act thus governs the payment of commissions owed by a "principal" to a "sales representative," and a defendant can only be liable if the plaintiff is a "sales representative" as that term is used in the Act. See Total Control, Inc. v. Danaher Corp., No. 02-668, 2004 WL 1878238, at *2 (E.D.Pa. Aug. 18, 2004) ("Under § 1475 of the PCSRA, liability is only triggered if a `principal' fails to pay a `sales representative.'"). The PCSRA defines the term "sales representative" as follows:
Id. § 1471 (emphasis added). Thus, a "sales representative" is someone who solicits wholesale orders from "retailers" rather than "consumers."
The parties agree that Lovejoy sells its goods to two types of customers: original equipment manufacturers ("OEMs") and industrial distributors. OEMs purchase Lovejoy's products for the purpose of incorporating them into another product, which will then be sold. Industrial distributors, by contrast, purchase Lovejoy's products in order to resell them. The parties disagree about whether these two types of customers are "retailers." In Kamco's view, "a `consumer' buys a product with no intention of selling it again. But, a retailer buys for the purpose of reselling the article." Pl.'s Opp. Br. at 24. Since both OEMs and industrial distributors have no intention of keeping Lovejoy's products for their own use, Kamco argues that both OEMs and industrial distributors are retailers under the PCSRA. Lovejoy, however, argues that OEMs are not retailers because the term "retailers" does not encompass manufacturers making use of component parts. Def.'s Br. at 15. Lovejoy also argues that Kamco has failed to present evidence that the industrial distributors are retailers who sell to "consumers" (as opposed to other types of buyers, such as OEMs). Def.'s Reply Br. at 11-12.
Kamco's PCSRA claim thus hinges on the meaning of "retailers"—a term that the PCSRA does not define. When non-technical words are undefined in a statute, they are construed according to "their common and approved usage." 1 Pa. Cons.Stat. § 1903(a). Two courts in this district have previously addressed
122 F.Supp.2d 560, 564 (E.D.Pa.2000). Summing up these definitions, the court concluded that "the plain and ordinary meaning of a retailer is one who is selling some tangible good or product to an ultimate consumer." Id. Accordingly, the court rejected the plaintiff's argument that the term retailer "encompass[es] transit agencies, rail car builders, or transit authorities." Id.
The second PCSRA decision from this court, Total Control, Inc. v. Danaher Corp., No. 02-668, 2004 WL 1878238, *3 (E.D.Pa.2004), observed that a then-recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision had construed the term "ultimate consumer" in a different statute as follows:
AMP Inc. v. Pennsylvania, 578 Pa. 366, 852 A.2d 1161, 1166 n. 4 (2004). Noting that its analysis of the PCSRA was "informed" by the AMP decision, the Total Control court concluded "that the phrase `ultimate consumer' refers to retail customers and does not include manufacturers making use of component products." 2004 WL 1878238, *3 (citing AMP, 852 A.2d 1161).
This court finds the analysis of the PCSRA in United Products and Total Control persuasive and in conformity with common usage. Under the PCSRA, a retailer sells a tangible product to an ultimate consumer. An ultimate consumer, in turn, (1) buys goods for personal, family, or household use, without any intention to
Kamco asserts that the interpretation of the PCSRA presented in Total Control and adopted here is unreasonable and leads to absurd results because it "has the practical result of a large segment of commissioned sales representatives being excluded from protection for no logical reason." Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Mot. for Summ. Judg. at 25; cf. 1 Pa. Cons. Stat. § 1922(1) ("[T]he General Assembly does not intend a result that is absurd, impossible of execution or unreasonable."). This court does not find the results here so unreasonable or absurd as to justify departing from the common meaning of the term "retailer." It is undisputed that the PCSRA does not aspire to provide protection to all sales agents who work on commission. For example, the PCSRA excludes from its protection commissioned sales made directly to consumers (as opposed to retailers). See 43 Pa. Stat. § 1471 (defining a "sales representative" as a "person who contracts with a principal to solicit wholesale orders from retailers rather than consumers" (emphasis added)).
In addition, the Pennsylvania General Assembly's choice of the word "retailer" appears to have been quite deliberate. As the court in Total Control noted, as of 2004:
Applying the definitions of retailers and ultimate consumers adopted above, it is evident that Kamco is not a sales representative within the meaning of the PCSRA. By all accounts, the OEMs purchase Lovejoy's products in order to incorporate them into other products. Thus, they are not "retailers" as that term is used in common speech. With respect to the industrial distributors, Kamco argues that they "bought from [Lovejoy] for the sole purpose of selling the product again to someone else." Pl.'s Resp. to Def.'s Mot. for Summ. Judg. at 25. This is not enough to establish that the distributors are retailers who sell to ultimate consumers. As Lovejoy points out, Ken Morrison of Kamco testified at his deposition that one industrial distributor sells Lovejoy's products to manufacturers rather than ultimate consumers. See Def.'s Ex. C. at 101:19-20 ("They sell [Lovejoy's products] to people who build equipment."). While Morrison also testified that the same distributor also made sales "to people who make food" and to "anybody that's got two shafts that they need to put together," id. at 101:20-23, this court finds that Kamco has failed to present adequate evidence that the industrial distributors do, in fact, make sales to ultimate consumers. Much like the plaintiff in Total Control, Kamco has presented only "conclusory statements" from Morrison and has "not identified the customers of the[] distributors." 2004 WL 1878238, *3. Accordingly, Kamco has failed to present "more than a mere scintilla of evidence" in support of a crucial element
For the foregoing reasons, Lovejoy's motion for summary judgment will be granted with respect to Kamco's PCSRA claim and its constructive termination theory of breach of contract, but denied with respect to Kamco's claim that Lovejoy committed breach of contract by violating the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. An appropriate order accompanies this opinion.
Agreement ¶ 7.