In a dispute arising out of nonpayment for 1 million bottles of hand sanitizer to be delivered to Reach’s customer, Five Below, the U.S. District Court of Minnesota granted summary judgment for brands in the amount of $89,072.64, and $185,000 for attorney fees for Felicia J. Boyd, a partner and head of IP brands, and Jaime Wing, a senior associate at Norton Rose Fulbright in Minneapolis. The Eighth Circuit reversed the attorney fee award.
While the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit recently upheld a judgment in favor of a Canadian manufacturer of hand sanitizer in a contract dispute arising out of COVID-era purchases, the panel reversed a $185,000 award to its counsel with Norton Rose Fulbright.
In part, the court sided with a Minnesota retail distributor, Reach Companies, in holding that the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) doesn’t authorize awarding attorney fees, in turn, reversing a $185,000 attorney fee awarded to Brands International Corp., in the underlying suit.
