American Commercial Lines, LLC v. The Lubrizol Corp.

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant’s (manufacturer of lubricant) motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s fraud/breach of contract claim alleging that distributor of defendant’s lubricant improperly substituted inferior additive to lubricant without knowledge of plaintiff before selling said lubricant to plaintiff. Record showed that distributor was not agent of defendant so as to render it liable for distributor’s conduct, where: (1) at time of improper substitution defendant had severed ties with distributor; and (2) plaintiff failed to present any evidence that defendant had told plaintiff that distributor was anything other than distributor of its product so as to make distributor its agent. Also, plaintiff did not present evidence establishing that it had special relationship with defendant, so as to require that defendant inform plaintiff that distributor was supplying inferior additive, where defendant had no contractual relationship with plaintiff.