MIAMI — A wireless company has been denied a motion to dismiss a counterclaim against them in a breach of contract dispute.
On Jan. 17, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom denied Reagan Wireless Corporations' motion to dismiss a counterclaim filed by Apto Solutions in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Apto claims that Reagan breached a contract agreement when it failed to pay for half of an order for cell phones.
Judge Bloom found that "Apto has sufficiently pled facts demonstrating how Reagan allegedly breached its duty and the damages it has sustained as a result of that breach. Apto’s damages arise from Reagan’s refusal to pay the second half of the invoice amount, and the resulting sales (at a loss) of the units that Reagan ultimately returned."
Reagan is a wholesale distributor of cell phones and related accessories, while Apto manages and disposes used information technology equipment, including cell phones.
After some negotiations, the parties entered into an agreement whereby Apto would sell Google-branded phones exclusively to Reagan with an unconditional right to return within 45 days of receipt. Reagan sent Apto 50 percent of the invoiced amount, which totaled $1,201,292.41. After receiving over 14,000 cell phones from Apto, Reagan rejected more than half of them due to screen burn-in, court documents state.
Reagan did not make the remaining 50 percent payment on the invoice, and requested a refund from Apto after returning the nonconforming cell phones.
Reagan contends that the purchase agreement, which granted Reagan an unconditional right of return, "removed its duty as a buyer to use its best efforts to promote the sale of the cell phones." It argues in the suit that the unconditional right of return conflicts with such an implied duty.
Apto claims that "at no time were device screen conditions discussed, nor were there any representations made about the conditions of the phone screens other than as stated in the grading criteria."