Summary Judgment Win Affirmed by Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Breach-of-Contract Suit Against Otoka Energy

A Stoel Rives team representing Otoka Energy recently succeeded at the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeal and won an affirmance of summary judgment from a Minnesota lawsuit involving a financing transaction for a biomass power project.

Strategic Energy Concepts sued Otoka Energy and others for breaches of contract related to a transaction in which it agreed to sell its interests in the project to Otoka Energy’s affiliate. The Stoel Rives team moved for summary judgment in Minnesota federal district court, arguing that a necessary condition to Otoka’s payment obligations (i.e., a condition precedent) was never fulfilled, and, accordingly, there could be no breach.

The district court agreed and entered a summary judgment on Strategic Energy Concepts’ claims, which it eventually appealed to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals; the appellate court affirmed the summary judgment order on November 4 in a decision authored by Hon. David Stras.

Andy Pieper, a Minneapolis-based partner in Stoel Rives’ litigation group, led the Stoel Rives team that represented Otoka Energy and argued the appeal to the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Stoel Rives team also included Minneapolis associates Emily Atmore and Brea Khwaja.

For more on the case, see an article in Minnesota Lawyer.