Friedman & Friedman, Ltd., an Illinois Corporation; Jeanne Enders; Arie S. Friedman; Gail Tuler Friedman; Eugene F. Friedman, Plaintiffs-Appellees/Cross-Appellants, v. Tim McCandless, Inc., an Iowa Corporation; Paul Roloff, Defendants-Appellants/Cross-Appellees, Swieter Aircraft Services, Inc; Irwin Swieter; Richard Baxter, Defendants, State of Iowa ex rel. Civil Reparations Trust Fund, Intervenor-Appellee., 606 F.3d 494

Summary

The buyer purchased an airplane from the dealer pursuant to a letter agreement or an aircraft purchase agreement, both of which required the plane to be airworthy. About two months after the plane was delivered, the buyer reported that the plane was not airworthy. Almost 10 months later, the buyer sent a list of repairs needed and a demand for payment. The dealer offered jury instructions on a buyer's duty under Iowa Code § 554.2607(3)(a) to provide the seller with timely notice of nonconforming goods, but the district court declined to give the requested instructions. The appellate court determined that the dealer did not waive its affirmative defense on the contract claim because the dealer preserved the defense of timely notice of nonconformity by expressly including it in the final pretrial order approved by the district court. Omission of the jury instruction on that defense was an abuse of discretion because it deprived the dealer of a legally viable defense that was supported by...