Grynberg v. Citation Oil & Gas Corp.

[¶ 60.] I dissent on Issue One.

[¶ 61.] In order to maintain a cause of action for fraud in addition to breach of contract, “the fraud must be extraneous to the contract, rather than a fraudulent nonperformance of the contract itself.” Bevins v. King, 147 Vt. 203, 514 A.2d 1044, 1045 (1986) (citations omitted). The significance of this distinction is outlined in Bevins

[P]rinciples of contract and principles of fraud must be kept separate and distinct for “[i]f every broken promise were to constitute fraud, ... the resulting instability would severely impair the conduct of business.” See also…