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STATE OF MINNESOTA IN SUPREME COURT A07-155

Court of Appeals Lester Building Systems, a division of Butler Manufacturing Company, et al., Appellants, vs. Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, Respondent. ________________________ James L. Volling, Faegre & Benson LLP, Minneapolis, Minnesota; and

Page, J.

Filed: March 5, 2009 Office of Appellate Courts

Kell M. Damsgaard, Brian W. Shaffer, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for appellants. James K. Langdon, Michelle S. Grant, Eric R. Sherman, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Minneapolis, Minnesota, for respondent. ________________________ SYLLABUS Appellants may not recover repair-cost damages because a federal class-action settlement released appellants from any liability they may have had to repair their customers' barns. Affirmed.

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OPINION PAGE, Justice. Appellants Lester Building Systems and Lester's of Minnesota (collectively, Lester) sued Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LP) for breach of contract, breach of implied and express warranties, and fraud. A McLeod County jury found in favor of Lester and awarded $29.6 million in damages. The award included $13.2 million for the cost to repair buildings owned by Lester's customers. LP appealed, claiming that a federal classaction settlement precluded Lester from recovering $11.2 million of the $13.2 million awarded as repair-cost damages. The court of appeals reversed the jury award with respect to the disputed amount, holding that, "under Minnesota law, a reseller cannot recover repair-cost damages when it has already been released from liability." Lester Bldg. Sys. v. La.-Pac. Corp. (Lester II), No. A07-155, 2008 WL 467426, at *4 (Minn. App. Feb. 5, 2008). In this appeal, Lester argues that: (1) the court of appeals erred in holding that Minnesota law precludes a reseller from recovering the cost of making repairs if the reseller has no legal obligation to make those repairs; and (2) the court of appeals erred in holding that the federal class-action settlement eliminated Lester's liability to its customers. We affirm. Lester designs and sells non-residential wood building systems, including livestock barns.1 Lester sells its buildings directly to farmers and indirectly through a

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In Sandpiper Village Condominium Ass'n v. Louisiana-Pacific Corp., 428 F.3d 831 (9th Cir. 2005), the Ninth Circuit details, at length, the facts underlying this case. We state here only those facts germane to the issue before us.

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network of independent dealer-builders. LP manufactures building materials and wood products for home and commercial builders across the country. In the 1980s, LP developed an external siding product known as Inner-Seal

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