United Roasters Inc. v. Colgate-Palmolive Co‪.‬

United Roasters, Inc., a North Carolina corporation, and the Colgate Palmolive Co., a Delaware corporation, filed cross appeals from the judgment in this diversity action for breach of contract. The jury found that Colgate had broken three different contractual obligations, including an implied obligation to exercise in good faith an unqualified right to terminate the contract, and awarded United Roasters damages totaling $789,000. The district court held, however, that the breach of the implied good faith covenant was not an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the conduct of commerce within the meaning of N.C.G.S. § 75-1.1, and declined to award treble damages under § 75-16. United Roasters, Inc. v. Colgate-Palmolive Co., 485 F. Supp. 1049 (E.D.N.C.1980).1 Although we believe that United Roasters misconceived the theory of a common-law branch of this case, we find that the district court reached the correct result, and affirm its judgment. I.