After a long-standing business relationship soured, the ensuing litigation went big. For years, a vendor provided food services at a private university, but in 2014 the university announced that it would competitively bid the contract for on-campus dining. Although the same vendor ultimately won that competition, the process of bidding, negotiating, and finalizing that new contract fractured the relationship beyond repair. About two years into the contract’s ten-year period of performance, the vendor sued the university for fraud, multiple breaches of contract, and alternatively for unjust enrichment. The university responded with fraud and breach-of-contract counterclaims. The case was decided mainly on joint motions for summary judgment and attendant motions to strike. Then in a 73-page opus, including a table of contents, the Third Circuit ruled that the trial court correctly resolved the claims but erred in rejecting the vendor’s fraud and breach-of-contract claims.
