Costco Wholesale Corp. v. World Wide Licensing Corp

75 Wash.App. 637, 898 P.2d 347 (1995)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Worldwide (D) sells jewelry to wholesale buyers. Coleman was D's independent sales representative. Dose is a Worldwide division president. Coleman presented D's merchandise to P and P agreed to purchase 5 pallets of 416 boxes each, for a total of $74,880.00, and paid by check. Coleman had convinced D to make 3 pallets more. In P's opinion, the jewelry it received was poorly packaged, and not the quality it expected. Dose told Coleman to 'approach P with an $8 per box adjustment in price providing they agreed to purchase the remaining 3 pallets at the adjusted price'. Dose claimed Coleman 'indicated' that P 'had agreed to the additional order.' Coleman's declaration asserts that Dose authorized an $8 per unit rebate, but it says nothing about the alleged additional order, or any instruction to make the rebate contingent on a promise to buy the other three pallets. P sent a rebate form to Coleman. Coleman signed it and faxed a copy to D. When P did not order the three additional pallets, D refused to pay the rebate. When D paid Coleman's sales commission, however, it was based on the rebated sales price. P sued seeking $16,640 (2,080 boxes at $8 per box). D denied the rebate agreement and alleged the statute of frauds as an affirmative defense. The trial court entered summary judgment in favor of P.