The Jacobs Manufacturing Company v. Sam Brown Co.

FAGG, Circuit Judge.

This lawsuit arises from the breakdown- of a distributor relationship between the Jacobs Manufacturing Company (Jacobs), a manufacturer of truck engine brakes, and Sam Brown Company (Brown), its largest distributor. After the relationship ended, Jacobs brought this diversity action for its unpaid account balance, and Brown counterclaimed asserting Jacobs made fraudulent and negligent misrepresentations. Brown appeals the district court’s order granting judgment as a matter of law (JAML) to Jacobs. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

I

In 1976 Jacobs’s representatives…