Preview:

FILED: March 14, 2012

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF OREGON CACV OF COLORADO, LLC, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. GLORIA J. STEVENS, Defendant-Appellant. Washington County Circuit Court C075265CV A144594

Rick Knapp, Judge. Argued and submitted on March 08, 2011. Craig Colby argued the cause for appellant. With him on the briefs was Bret Knewtson. Daniel N. Gordon argued the cause for respondent. With him on the brief was Daniel N. Gordon, P.C. Before Haselton, Presiding Judge, and Armstrong, Judge, and Duncan, Judge. ARMSTRONG, J. General judgment affirmed; supplemental judgment reversed and remanded.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

ARMSTRONG, J. Defendant appeals general and supplemental judgments in plaintiff's favor in a contract action. The trial court concluded that Oregon's statute of limitation for contract claims, which requires parties to file claims within six years of their accrual, applies to plaintiff's contract claim rather than Delaware's comparable statute, which requires parties to file claims within three years of accrual. Defendant's first two assignments of error challenge the court's conclusion on that issue. We reject defendant's challenge and, accordingly, affirm the general judgment. In her third assignment, defendant contends that the court erred in awarding attorney fees to plaintiff under ORS 20.096(1), which does not impose a specific monetary limit on attorney-fee awards, rather than under a Delaware statute that imposes such a limit. We agree with defendant and, accordingly, reverse and remand the supplemental judgment. The pertinent facts are undisputed. Defendant is an Oregon resident who opened a credit card account in 2001 with Chase Bank USA, N.A. (Chase), which is a Delaware corporation. The cardholder agreement for the account includes a choice-oflaw provision that provides that the agreement is "governed by the laws of the United States and the State of Delaware." The agreement also provides that, in the event that defendant fails to make payments due on the account, Chase is entitled to recover its attorney fees and other costs incurred in collecting the amount that defendant owes. Defendant eventually defaulted on her accrued credit card debt in May 2003, and Chase charged the debt off roughly seven months later, declaring, in essence, that the debt was unlikely to be collected. Shortly thereafter, Chase sold the account to
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

plaintiff, a Colorado corporation. Plaintiff brought this breach-of-contract action against defendant in Washington County, Oregon, in November 2007, seeking, among other things, recovery of the amount that defendant owes on the account and an award of attorney fees under the attorney-fee provision in the agreement. After unsuccessfully moving to dismiss the case as untimely, defendant filed an answer that alleged a defense that plaintiff's contract claim is time barred. The parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment on defendant's statute-of-limitation defense. Notwithstanding the provision in the agreement that makes Delaware law the law that generally applies to the agreement, plaintiff contended that its claim was governed by Oregon's statute of limitation for contract claims, ORS 12.080,1 rather than the comparable Delaware statute, Del Code Ann title 10,

Download A144594 CACV of Colorado v. Stevens.pdf

Oregon Law