Court Rulings

An employer of an independent contractor generally is not liable for the negligence of the independent contractor. North Dakota law recognizes an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose in construction contracts. A contracting party cannot escape its liability on the contract by merely assigning its duties and rights under the contract to a third party. The remedy for fraud is rescission of the contract and requires returning the parties back to their original positions. Deceit is not an action dependent on a contract it is a tort cause of action, and allows recovery of damages upon proof of an affirmative misrepresentation or suppression of material facts. When a party requests leave to amend without requesting additional discovery and a summary judgment motion has been docketed, the proposed amendment must be both theoretically viable and solidly grounded in the record. The measure of damages for breach of contract is the amount which will compensate the injured person for the loss which fulfillment of the contract would have prevented or the breach of the contract now requires.

A claim for workers' compensation benefits must be filed within one year after the injury. The date of injury for purposes of determining whether a claim for benefits is timely filed is the first date a reasonable lay person, not learned in medicine, knew or should have known that he suffered a compensable work-related injury and has either lost wages or received medical treatment.

The existence and terms of an oral contract are findings of fact subject to the clearly erroneous rule. A district court's determination of whether the facts support a finding of unjust enrichment is fully reviewable on appeal. An award of damages for an unjust enrichment claim is reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. Issues not raised in the district court are waived.

An employer of an independent contractor generally is not liable for the negligence of the independent contractor. North Dakota law recognizes an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose in construction contracts. A contracting party cannot escape its liability on the contract by merely assigning its duties and rights under the contract to a third party. The remedy for fraud is rescission of the contract and requires returning the parties back to their original positions. Deceit is not an action dependent on a contract it is a tort cause of action, and allows recovery of damages upon proof of an affirmative misrepresentation or suppression of material facts. When a party requests leave to amend without requesting additional discovery and a summary judgment motion has been docketed, the proposed amendment must be both theoretically viable and solidly grounded in the record. The measure of damages for breach of contract is the amount which will compensate the injured person for the loss which fulfillment of the contract would have prevented or the breach of the contract now requires.

A claim for workers' compensation benefits must be filed within one year after the injury. The date of injury for purposes of determining whether a claim for benefits is timely filed is the first date a reasonable lay person, not learned in medicine, knew or should have known that he suffered a compensable work-related injury and has either lost wages or received medical treatment.

This is the second appeal of a case in which a parcel of property was sold by the City of Chattanooga at a delinquent tax sale. The property had earlier been sold at a foreclosure sale conducted by the holder of a deed of trust on the property. The successor in interest to the purchaser of the property at the foreclosure sale brought an action against the purchaser at the tax sale and others to quiet title to the property the tax sale purchaser filed a counterclaim and cross-claim against two of the defendants. The trial court granted summary judgment to the foreclosure sale purchaser based on its determination that she was a bona fide purchaser without notice of the tax sale and that she had recorded her deed first the court dismissed the cross-claims. The tax sale purchaser appealed and this Court affirmed the dismissal of the cross-claims and reversed the grant of summary judgment to the foreclosure sale purchaser, holding that there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether she had notice of the tax sale purchaser's interest in the property prior to her purchase. Upon remand, the case was tried without a jury, and the trial court ruled in favor of the foreclosure sale purchaser, holding that she was a bona fide purchaser of the property without notice of the tax sale purchaser's claim of ownership. Tax sale purchaser appeals finding no error, we affirm the judgment.