PITTSBURGH -- An ammunition distributor involved in a legal wrangle with a major sporting goods retailer cannot file an amended complaint that seeks to convert the dispute into a class action, a federal judge has ruled.
Battle Born Munitions (BBM) made the move to turn its complaint against Dick's Sporting Goods into a class action involving multiple vendors allegedly harmed by their products not making it onto shelves at Dick's, the judge ruled. Dick's has famously stopped selling assault-rifle weapons, and its CEO is possibly considering a run for President.
U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer of the Western District of Pennsylvania on Oct. 22 dismissed the amended complaint and barred the company from filing a new one on behalf of three proposed classes.
Battle Born sued the retailer, alleging fraudulent inducement, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract over a deal for the delivery of ammunition to Dick's.
The ammunition supplier in 2016 entered into an agreement to supply ammunition within Dick's Field & Stream packaging. BBM alleged it paid two manufacturers around $4.5 million for the ammo, which was available in November 2016.
It is alleged Dick's did not take delivery for a year and refused to pay for the product during that period, while BBM was unable to sell the merchandise to anyone else because of the distinctive package. The distributor alleged it lost $200,000 storing the ammo, while also losing $5 million on another deal because of cash flow issues.
The fraud and misrepresentation counts were dismissed after earlier hearings, leaving a part of the breach of contract count to be decided.
In the current instance, the federal court was deciding whether to allow BBM's amended complaint that included the request to convert the dispute into a class action.
"In its proposed class action, Battle Born seeks to bring breach of contract claims against Dick’s on behalf of three separate classes of similarly situated vendors," Fischer noted. "Battle Born maintains that it has shown good cause for the proposed amendments and that Dick’s will not be prejudiced by same because it was made aware of the potential class action at the outset of this litigation.
"Dick’s counters that it has been prejudiced by Battle Born’s delays given the fact that discovery was scheduled to end Oct. 10, 2019, and further asserts that this case should proceed as to the remaining breach of contract claim between these two entities only."
Fischer concluded that BBM has failed in its argument to be allowed file the amended complaint and it was wrong to add the class action claim just two weeks before the end of the discovery period.
"The court believes that Dick’s will be significantly prejudiced if the class action claims are permitted because this straightforward case between a retail sporting goods chain and one of its vendors alleging a breach of a single agreement would be transformed into a class action involving possibly hundreds of vendors," Fischer ruled.