Professional Bull Riders, Inc. v. Autozone, Inc.

113 P.3d 757 (2005)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

AutoZone (D) sponsored events by the Professional Bull Riders (P). P prepared a written agreement to provide for D’s sponsorship. The agreement was for two years but gave D the option to cancel within the first year. D never signed the agreement. D performed, but in January 2002, D notified P that it would not be sponsoring PBR events in 2002. This was well after the August 2001 drop-dead date in the written agreement. P sued D for a breach of the oral sponsorship agreement. The district court granted summary judgment to D. The oral contract could not be performed within one year and was therefore unenforceable under the Colorado statute of frauds. Other jurisdictions held that the fact that either party has an option to put an end to the contract within a year does not take it out of the operation of the statute if, independent of the exercise of such power, the agreement cannot be performed within a year.