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CISG CASE PRESENTATION

United States 18 January 2011 Federal District Court [New York] (Hanwha Corporation v.
Cedar Petrochemicals, Inc.)
[Cite as: http://cisgw3.law.pace.edu/cases/110118u1.html]

Primary source(s) of information for case presentation: Case text

Case Table of Contents


• Case identification
• Classification of issues present
• Editorial remarks
• Citations to case abstracts, texts, and commentaries
• Case text

• Guide to links contained in case presentations

Case identification

DATE OF DECISION: 20110118 (18 January 2011)

JURISDICTION: United States [federal court]

TRIBUNAL: U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York [a federal court of 1st
instance]

JUDGE(S): Alvin K. Hellerstein

CASE NUMBER/DOCKET NUMBER: 09 Civ. 10559 (AKH)

CASE NAME: Hanwha Corporation v. Cedar Petrochemicals, Inc.

CASE HISTORY: Unavailable

SELLER'S COUNTRY: United States (Defendant)

BUYER'S COUNTRY: Korea (Plaintiff)

GOODS INVOLVED: Toluene (a petrochemical)

Classification of issues present

APPLICATION OF CISG: Yes


APPLICABLE CISG PROVISIONS AND ISSUES

Key CISG provisions at issue: Articles 8 ; 14 ; 19

Classification of issues using UNCITRAL classification code numbers:

8A ; 8B ; 8C [Intent of party making statement or engaging in conduct ; Interpretation based on


objective standards ; Interpretation in light of surrounding circumstances];

14A [Basic criterion - intention to be bound in case of acceptance];

19A1 ; 19B [Replying purporting to accept but containing additions or modifications, In


general, constitutes rejection and counteroffer ; "Acceptance" with immaterial modifications]

Descriptors: Unavailable

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Editorial remarks

EDITOR: Leandro Tripodi

1. Summary of the case

A Korean buyer, Hanwha (hereinafter, the "plaintiff") sued Cedar, an American petrochemical
trader (hereinafter, the "defendant") for breach of contract. The defendant challenged the fact
that a contract of sale had been validly concluded.

From January 2003 to April 2009, the parties engaged in several transactions for the sale of
petrochemicals. Their course of dealing had not been smooth, but in past transactions they
agreed, either explicitly or impliedly, on all contractual terms and met obligations accordingly.

In the disputed transaction, the defendant acknowledged plaintiff's bid to purchase 1,000 metric
tons of Toluene at the then current market price, US $640 per metric ton. Defendant dispatched
signed documentation to the plaintiff, including a clause selecting New York law, the UCC,
and INCOTERMS 2000. Plaintiff did not respond, "but engaged with [defendant] in preparing
a bill of lading and nominating a vessel for the ocean carriage". Later, plaintiff sent back the
amended documentation, with Singapore law and INCOTERMS 2000 as governing law.

Upon sending back the documentation, plaintiff wrote that no contract would "enter into force"
unless defendant countersign the documentation as is. Defendant refused to take plaintiff's
terms and instead asked plaintiff to sign and return per defendant's terms. In the meantime, the
parties "worked out" two letters of credit. With the unit price of Toluene rising from US $640
to $790.50, the defendant decided to retreat and sell the product to another buyer.

To determine whether a contract was formed, the court set out to find which formation rules
apply. According to the sole judge, "the parties never agreed on a substantive law to displace
the CISG, and their competing choices must fall away, leaving the CISG to fill the void by its
own self-executing force". The court's finding that competing terms must "fall away" was based
on UCC precedents, since, as repeatedly (not less mistakenly) stated by US courts, "case law
interpreting the CISG is relatively sparse" and "case law interpreting analogous provisions of
Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC") may also inform a court where the
language of the relevant CISG provisions track that of the UCC".

In light of the CISG, it was the finding of the court that a contract for the sale of Toluene was
never concluded. Court performed an objective analysis of the parties' declarations under Art.
8(2) CISG, since evidence of subjective intent (Art. 8(1)) was missing. In view of the parties'
course of dealing (Art. 8(3) CISG), court found that plaintiff did not show an intent to be bound
by its offer. According to the court, in prior transactions, the parties engaged in a "familiar two-
step process": first, forming a firm bid and second, negotiating final terms and conditions. They
had never performed until an agreement on all terms of the contract had been reached.

As stated by the court, "it is clear that these parties did not enter into a final contract until they
agreed to the final terms embodied in the contract documents, and not when they agreed
[plaintiff's] bids on product, quantity, and price". During the instant transaction, "the parties
never worked out the final terms of the contract because they never formed an agreement on a
term they deemed material, a choice of governing law".

The court found the parties' exchange of standard terms to "constitute a counter-offer, and a
rejection of the counter-offer, within the meaning of Article 19(1) [CISG]". Plaintiff "insisted
that [defendant] accept [its] modification explicitly", whereto defendant objected immediately.
This was interpreted by the court as meaning that the parties regarded the modifications as
material by virtue of Art. 19(2). "As the parties thereafter failed to reconcile their views, it is
apparent that they never formed a final contract".

2. Comment

In a transaction governed by the CISG, the Hanwha court found that the parties did not conclude
a contract of sale. Such finding was based on two different grounds:

no final agreement was reached on a modification of the offer that qualifies as


1)
material according to the parties' intentions and to the CISG;
no intent of being bound could be extracted from the parties' exchange in light of
2)
their course of dealing.

1) Recent developments in CISG contract formation place decreasing importance on a


disagreement of the parties where such disagreement refers only to standard terms and
conditions. These developments point to the application of the knock-out rule to those cases, as
opposed to the last shot rule, which is in line with the plain wording of Article 19.

Under the knock-out rule, where the parties have agreed on essential features of the contract
(the essentialia negotii), such as nature of the goods, quantity and price, their failure to come
to terms as regards other, non-essential, terms should not be understood as a failure to enter into
the contract. In other words, a disagreement merely referring to standard terms is in principle
not an obstacle to contract formation, provided that the parties have agreed on essential terms.

According to a commentator (MAGNUS, Ulrich, Last shot vs. Knock-out: still battle over battle
of forms under the CISG, <http://www.cisg.law.pace.edu/cisg/biblio/magnus4.html>, at V), in
order to determine whether the knock-out rule applies, one should estimate how far the parties
went through the performance of their deal. While little doubt remains in instances where
complete performance was achieved, partial performance has to be analyzed on a case-by-case
basis.

In Hanwha, it was noted by the court that both plaintiff and defendant "engaged [...] in preparing
a bill of lading and nominating a vessel for the ocean carriage" and "worked out" two letters of
credit. One, issued on June 8, 2009, was unsatisfactory, but an acceptable letter of credit was
opened on June 10, 2009. This means that, besides reaching an agreement on the nature of the
goods (Toluene), the quantity (1,000 metric tons) and the price (US $ 640,00 per ton), the parties
effectively commenced performance. It was only due to a disagreement over "second-class"
contractual terms, however Article 19(3) may indicate them as material, that one of the parties
unilaterally unwound the transaction.

Among the terms that were never settled there was a choice of law clause. The court's finding
that competing terms (including a choice of law clause) must "fall away", giving rise to
application of the CISG under its Article 1(1)(a) is sufficient to overcome any difficulty arising
from a negative choice of law. Good for the CISG, since one of its goals is to "fill the void"
where no governing law was agreed.

2) In the court's words, evidence supports that: "[a]fter [defendant] would send these signed
contract documents to [plaintiff], [plaintiff] would do one of three things: it would countersign
and return the contract sheet, accepting [defendant]'s terms; or modify the contract sheet, and
then sign and return it for [defendant]'s consideration; or not sign at all. On three occasions,
[plaintiff] modified the contract sheets by providing its own choice of law to govern the
contracts. Whenever [plaintiff] modified the contract sheets and sent them back to [defendant],
[defendant] did not object to the changes -- including [plaintiff]'s choices of law -- but did not
countersign [plaintiff]'s version. On all twenty occasions, upon completion of this process,
[defendant] and [plaintiff] both performed their obligations under their contracts."

What emerges from these facts is that terms and conditions attached to the bid have, actually,
always been immaterial in the eyes of the parties. In any of three scenarios, the parties went
forward irrespectively of which standard terms had eventually prevailed. Therefore, in the
transaction before the court, either the course of dealing was overturned, as modifications that
had so far been immaterial became material, or, as a matter of fact, these modifications became
only purportedly material.

The significant rise of over US $ 150 per ton in Toluene price between May 27, 2009 (date of
submission of bid) and June 11, 2009 (day on which defendant advised plaintiff that no contract
existed between the parties) made it considerably attractive for the defendant to bail out from
the deal and look to sell the product off. Unexpected price fluctuations are inherent to the
commodity market. Had Toluene price plummeted by 23% in those fifteen days and the plaintiff
would be the one looking good to walk away.

According to the standard of Article 7(1) CISG, the text of the Convention has to be interpreted
with due regard for the observance of good faith in international trade. While one should not
resort to the good faith requirement as a source of new obligations not created by CISG drafters,
Article 7(1) is an adequate bar to prevent a party from raising an interpretation which violates
good faith.

In Hanwha, the contention that a contract was not concluded is inconsistent with a good faith
interpretation of Article 14(1), Article 18(1) and (3) and Article 19 of the CISG. A good faith
interpretation of these articles cannot lead to a finding that a party is allowed to baffle contract
formation only because the deal is no longer interesting or a different one would pay off better.

Both parties issued statements insisting that the other party accept the unaltered standard terms,
which clearly shows their intent to be bound. Furthermore, they engaged in acts of performance,
which corroborates that intent. The defendant's intent disappeared, however, once Toluene was
struck by an international price rise of more than 20%. All of a sudden, disagreements that had
been tolerated during a course comprising no less than 20 prior transactions between the parties
became material in the sense of Article 19(2) CISG.

A party cannot have it both ways. On June 10, 2009, the defendant was insisting that plaintiff
accept its terms and even engaging in acts of performance. One day later, the same party was
advising the other party that no contract was made and they would sell the product off. In fact,
either the defendant was, or was not, intended to be bound, and, on the basis of the information
provided by the court, one can see that it was.

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Citations to case abstracts, texts, and commentaries

CITATIONS TO ABSTRACTS OF DECISION

(a) UNCITRAL abstract: Unavailable

(b) Other abstracts

Unavailable

CITATIONS TO TEXT OF DECISION

Original language (English): Text presented below

Translation: Unavailable

CITATIONS TO COMMENTS ON DECISION

Unavailable

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Case text

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York

Hanwha Corporation, Plaintiff v. Cedar Petrochemicals, Inc., Defendant

09 Civ. 10559 (AKH)

18 January 2011
Plaintiff Hanwha Corporation ("Hanwha") has sued Defendant Cedar Petrochemicals, Inc.
("Cedar") in a two-count complaint alleging breach of contract. The complaint arises from the
parties' disagreement about the choice of law to govern their contract for the sale and purchase
of an amount of the petrochemical Toluene. Cedar now moves under Federal Rule of Civil
Procedure 56 for summary judgment dismissing the complaint, contending the parties never
formed a final contract; Hanwha cross-moves for summary judgment in its own favor. For the
reasons that follow, I hold that because the parties could not agree on a choice of law, they did
not form a contract. I therefore grant Cedar's motion for summary judgment dismissing the
complaint, and I deny Hanwha's cross-motion.

I. Background

From January 2003 to April 2009, Cedar, a New York corporation, and Hanwha, a Korean
corporation, entered into twenty discrete transactions for the purchase and sale of various
petrochemicals. In each of the twenty transactions, the parties formed contracts under the same
procedure. First, Hanwha would submit a bid to Cedar for a given petrochemical at a given
quantity and at a given price. Cedar would accept Hanwha's bid, forming what the parties
describe as a "firm bid," or an agreement regarding product, quantity, and price. Following
formation of the firm bid, Cedar would transmit a package of contract documents to Hanwha,
meant to incorporate and finalize all the terms of the contract. The package of documents
contained two items: (i) a "contract sheet" that embodied the terms of the firm bid and a choice
of law to govern the contract, and (ii) a set of "standard" terms and conditions incorporated by
reference in the contract sheet. Cedar always signed the contract sheet when submitting these
documents to Hanwha.

The contract sheets drafted by Cedar for the twenty contracts provide the same substantive
information, which can be described in three parts. First, at the top, Cedar provided a provision
stating, "We hereby confirm the following transaction between Hanwha Corp. and ... Cedar
Petrochemicals. [The] [f]ollowing sets forth the entire agreement of the parties." Declaration of
William H. Sparke III in Support of Cedar Petrochemical's Summary Judgment Motion ("Spark
Decl."), Exs. 1-20. Second, in the body of the contract sheets, Cedar would identify the product,
quantity, and price contemplated by the firm bid. Third, at the bottom, Cedar would provide a
provision incorporating the standard terms and conditions by reference. This final provision
also identified the laws Cedar chose to govern the contracts, and typically provided that New
York law, the Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC"), and Incoterms 2000 [1] governed the
contract. This choice of law was reinforced by a provision in Cedar's standard terms and
conditions, which also provided that New York law was to govern.

After Cedar would send these signed contract documents to Hanwha, Hanwha would do one of
three things: it would countersign and return the contract sheet, accepting Cedar's terms; or
modify the contract sheet, and then sign and return it for Cedar's consideration; or not sign at
all. On three occasions, Hanwha modified the contract sheets by providing its own choice of
law to govern the contracts. Whenever Hanwha modified the contract sheets and sent them back
to Cedar, Cedar did not object to the changes -- including Hanwha's choices of law -- but did
not countersign Hanwha's version. On all twenty occasions, upon completion of this process,
Cedar and Hanwha both performed their obligations under their contracts.

The present case concerns the parties' efforts to form a twenty-first contract. On May 27, 2009,
Hanwha submitted a bid for the purchase of 1,000 metric tons of the petrochemical Toluene at
$640 per metric ton, the market rate at the time. Cedar accepted the bid, thus creating a firm bid
for the purchase and sale of the Toluene. Cedar followed up its acceptance of the bid by sending
Hanwha, via email, a signed contract sheet and a document setting forth Cedar's usual standard
terms and conditions. As per usual, Cedar provided in the contract sheet that New York law,
the UCC, and Incoterms 2000 would govern the contract, and also provided in the standard
terms and conditions that New York law would govern. Hanwha did not immediately respond
to the contract documents, but engaged with Cedar in preparing a bill of lading and nominating
a vessel for the ocean carriage.

Approximately a week after Cedar had sent Hanwha the contract documents for the Toluene
sale, Hanwha returned them in modified form. On the contract sheet, Hanwha had modified the
provision providing for governing law, crossing out New York law and the UCC, leaving only
the provision that Incoterms 2000 was to govern the contract. Hanwha also provided a new set
of "standard" terms and conditions; in relevant part, Hanwha's new set of conditions provided
that Singapore law would govern the contract, rather than New York law. In summary, Hanwha
struck Cedar's nomination of New York law, the UCC, and Incoterms 2000 to govern the
contract, substituting instead Singapore law and Incoterms 2000.

When Hanwha returned the amended contract documents, it added an additional term, stated in
the body of the email transmitting the amended documents. In the email, Hanwha provided that
no contract would "enter into force" unless Cedar countersigned Hanwha's proposed version of
the contract documents. Declaration of Cho Yong in Support of Cedar Petrochemical's Motion
to Dismiss ("Cho Yong Decl."), Ex. 6. Cedar refused to accept Hanwha's terms, and sent
Hanwha an email explaining that the contract would be finalized only if Hanwha accepted
Cedar's original terms. The email asked Hanwha to sign and return an unaltered version of the
contract documents.

While Cedar waited for a response to this last request, the parties worked out the necessary
letter of credit for the transaction. Hanwha submitted a letter of credit unsatisfactory to Cedar
on June 8, 2009, and an acceptable letter of credit on June 10, 2009. However, the next day,
June 11, 2009, Cedar advised Hanwha that because of its failure to sign the version of the
contract tendered by Cedar, there was no contract between the parties, and Cedar had the right
to sell the Toluene to another party. The price of Toluene as of that date, June 11, 2009, had
risen from $640 per metric ton to $790.50.

In November 2009, Hanwha filed a two-count complaint in Supreme Court, New York County,
alleging (i) breach of contract by Cedar for failing to deliver the Toluene at the agreed-upon
price and (ii) anticipatory breach of contract for Cedar's statement of June 11, 2009 that the deal
was void and it was free to sell the Toluene to another buyer. The complaint also stated that the
dispute arose under United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
("CISG"), S. Treaty Doc. No. 9, 98th Cong., 1st Sess. 22 (1983), 19 I.L.M. 671, reprinted at 15
U.S.C. app. (1997), thus creating federal subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. ß 1331.
Cedar removed the case to this court, and Hanwha thereafter moved unsuccessfully to remand.
Order Denying Motion to Remand, 09 Civ. 10559, Doc. No. 15 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 21, 2010). The
parties now move and cross-move for summary judgment.

II. Standard of Review

Summary judgment is appropriate if "the pleadings, the discovery and disclosure materials on
file, and any affidavits show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the
movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(c)(2). On cross motions
for summary judgment, the district court is obligated to consider each motion on its own merits,
"taking care in each instance to draw all reasonable inferences against the party whose motion
is under consideration." Byrne v. Rutledge, 623 F.3d 46, 52-53 (2d Cir. 2010) (internal
quotations omitted). In considering a motion for summary judgment, "the mere possibility that
a factual dispute may exist, without more, is not sufficient to overcome a convincing
presentation by the moving party." Quinn v. Syracuse Model Neighborhood Corp., 613 F.2d
438, 445 (2d Cir. 1980). Further, "to defeat summary judgment ... nonmoving parties must do
more than simply show that there is some metaphysical doubt as to the material facts . . . and
they may not rely on conclusory allegations or unsubstantiated speculation." Jeffreys v. City of
N.Y., 426 F.3d 549, 554 (2d Cir. 2005) (internal quotation omitted) (alteration in original).

III. Discussion

a. Choice of Law

Before deciding whether the parties formed a contract, I must establish which law governs the
analysis. Here, both parties are members of CISG signatory nations, but they have attempted to
opt out of the CISG's substantive terms by designating other choices of substantive law. The
question therefore arises whether the CISG, some other law, or both, governs the question of
contract formation.

The CISG is a self-executing treaty, binding on all signatory nations, that creates a private right
of action in federal court under federal law. Delchi Carrier SpA v. Rotorex Corp., 71 F.3d 1024,
1027-28 (2d Cir. 1995). As a treaty, the CISG is a source of federal law. See 28 U.S.C. ß
1331(a); Usinor Industeel v. Leeco Steel Prods., Inc., 209 F. Supp. 2d 880, 884 (N.D. Ill. 2002);
Asante Techs, Inc. v. PMC-Sierra, Inc., 164 F. Supp. 2d 1142, 1147 (N.D. Cal. 2001); Riccitelli
v. Elemar New England Marble and Granite, LLC, 08 Civ. 1783, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95086,
2010 WL 3767111, at *4 (D. Conn. 2010). Because caselaw interpreting the CISG is relatively
sparse, this Court is authorized to interpret it in accordance with its general principles, "with a
view towards the need to promote uniformity in its application and the observance of good faith
in international trade." Delchi Carrier, 71 F.3d at 1028 (internal quotations omitted). "Caselaw
interpreting analogous provisions of Article 2 of the Uniform Commercial Code ("UCC") may
also inform a court where the language of the relevant CISG provisions track that of the UCC."
Id. at 1028.

The intent to opt out of the CISG must be set forth in the contract clearly and unequivocally.
See St. Paul Guardian Ins. Co. v. Neuromed Med. Sys. & Support, 00 Civ, 9344, 2002 U.S.
Dist. LEXIS 5096, 2002 WL 465312, at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 26, 2002); Asante Techs., 164 F.
Supp. 2d at 1149-50 (declining to apply a choice-of-law clause that did not "evince a clear intent
to opt out of the CISG); see also Delchi Carrier, 71 F.3d at 1027 n.1 (where the contract is
silent on a choice of law, the CISG governs). Absent a clear choice of law, "the Convention
governs all contracts between parties with places of business in different nations, so long as
both nations are signatories to the Convention." Filanto, S.p.A. v. Chilewich Intern. Corp., 789
F. Supp. 1229, 1237 (S.D.N.Y. 1992) (emphasis in original).

In this case, the parties each attempted to opt out of the CISG, but could not agree on the law
to displace it, Cedar preferring New York law and the UCC, and Hanwha preferring Singapore
law. This situation is not unlike the one contemplated by UCC ß 2-207(b), which notes that
terms upon which contracting parties do not agree are not part of the contract.[2] In such a
situation, the extraneous terms "fall away" and typically leave the Court with the obligation to
provide a term of its own crafting. See, e.g., Cloud Corp. v. Hasbro, Inc., 314 F.3d 289, 294-
95 (7th Cir. 2002) (Posner, J.). Here, the parties never agreed to a substantive law to displace
the CISG, and their competing choices must fall away, leaving the CISG to fill the void by its
own self-executing force.

Accordingly, in resolving these motions for summary judgment, I apply the terms of the CISG
without regard to the law either party attempted to select when bargaining over the terms of the
last contract.

b. The Merits

The issue in this case is whether Hanwha made a binding offer within the meaning of the CISG
when it bid on the 1,000 metric tons of Toluene. Several articles of the CISG bear upon this
issue. First, Article 14 of the CISG states, "[a] proposal for concluding a contract addressed to
one or more specific persons constitutes an offer if it is sufficiently definite and indicates the
intention of the offeror to be bound in case of acceptance. CISG art. 14(1) (emphasis added).
Second, in complementary fashion, Article 8 of the CISG sets out the relevant considerations
for finding an offeror's intent. It states in full:

(1) For the purposes of this Convention statements made by and other conduct of a party
are to be interpreted according to his intent where the other party knew or could not
have been unaware what the intent was.

(2) If the preceding paragraph is not applicable, statements made by and other conduct
of a party are to be interpreted according to the understanding that a reasonable person
of the same kind as the other party would have had in the same circumstances.

(3) In determining the intent of a party or the understanding a reasonable person would
have had, due consideration is to be given to all relevant circumstances of the case
including the negotiations, any practices which the parties have established between
themselves, usages and any subsequent conduct of the parties.

Finally, Article 19(1) modifies the analysis by providing that "[a] reply to an offer which
purports to be an acceptance, but contains additions, limitations or other modifications is a
rejection of the offer and constitutes a counter-offer." Even if the additional or altered terms are
not "material" to the contract, the offeree's amendments constitute a counter-offer if the offeror
objects to them "without undue delay." Id. art. 19(2).

In this case, it is clear that Hanwha made, and Cedar accepted, a "sufficiently definite" offer
within the meaning of Article 14(1), for Hanwha's bid was for a specific product, at a specific
price, and for a specific quantity. Beyond this, however, Article 14 requires that Hanwha must
also have intended to be bound when it made the bid. Id. On this latter point, the undisputed
facts make clear Hanwha did not possess this intent. Rather, the course of dealing between the
parties makes clear that neither party was to be bound until they agreed on other material terms
and conditions, namely the choice of law and forum-disputes provisions.

As a threshold point, although the CISG expresses a preference that the offeror's intent be
considered subjectively, that consideration is not possible in this case since neither party
submitted any competent evidence of their subjective intentions. See id. art. 8(1). The parties
have submitted only self-serving declarations of how they respectively viewed the other side's
offers and counter-offers, from the hindsight of their dispute. Such declarations do nothing more
than make out "the mere possibility of a factual dispute," Quinn, 613 F.2d at 445, and can be
neither a basis to grant or deny either party's motion,[3] see Jeffreys, 426 F.3d at 554.
Turning to the objective analysis called for by Article 8(2), it is clear from all the relevant
circumstances that Hanwha did not intend to be bound by making its bid for the 1,000 metric
tons of Toluene. Id. art. 8(3). In the twenty prior transactions, these parties had engaged in a
familiar two-step process, whereby they first formed their firm bid and then negotiated the final
terms and conditions of the contracts. On each of these twenty prior occasions, the parties did
not perform until after they had achieved agreement, explicit or implicit, on all the final terms
of the contract. The contract sheets reflect this, for each bears a provision stating, "[The]
[f]ollowing sets forth the entire agreement of the parties." Spark Decl., Exs. 1-20. From this, it
is clear that these parties did not enter into a final contract until they agreed to the final terms
embodied in the contract documents, and not when they agreed Hanwha's bids on product,
quantity, and price.

On this occasion, the undisputed facts show that the parties never worked out the final terms of
the contract because they never formed an agreement on a term they deemed material, a choice
of governing law. Previously, Hanwha had on several occasions proposed a different choice of
law and Cedar had accepted the proposal, either implicitly or explicitly. The parties thereafter
performed under the various contracts. But here, after Hanwha modified Cedar's contract
documents and proposed a different choice of law, Cedar rejected the change. These activities
constitute a counter-offer, and a rejection of the counter-offer, within the meaning of Article
19(1).

Further evidence that the parties failed to contract can be seen by the way they treated Hanwha's
modification of Cedar's choice of law. Beyond simply modifying Cedar's choice of law,
Hanwha insisted that Cedar accept the modification explicitly, by advising Cedar that the
contract could "enter into force" only if Cedar explicitly countersigned Hanwha's version of the
contract documents. Cho Yong Decl., Ex. 6. By objecting immediately and insisting on its own
nomination, Cedar made clear that it regarded the change as material, thus rendering the
different choice of law a material term under Article 19(2). As the parties thereafter failed to
reconcile their views, it is apparent that they never formed a final contract.[4]

Finally, I note that Hanwha's alternative argument that summary judgment is inappropriate at
this time is unavailing. Hanwha argues that issues of fact exist regarding the norms of
contracting practices in the Korean petrochemicals industry. Where the parties have established
a course of dealing between themselves, industry norms that might otherwise apply are
irrelevant.

IV. Conclusion

For the foregoing reasons, Cedar's motion for summary judgment is granted, and the case is
dismissed. Hanwha's cross-motion for summary judgment is denied. The Clerk shall terminate
the motions (Doc. Nos. 17 and 21) and close the case.

SO ORDERED.

FOOTNOTES

1. Generally speaking, "Incoterms" is a set of standard trade terms, developed by the


International Chamber of Commerce, meant to provide parties international contracts for the
sale of goods with clear definitions of respective rights and liabilities with regard to the
shipment of the goods.

2. It is immaterial that both parties agreed upon using Incoterms 2000 to govern the contract.
Each party desired Incoterms 2000 to govern jointly with other law; these differing medleys of
authority constitute the choices each party tried to make.

3. Hanwha urges that beyond its declaration, it has provided proof of its subjective intent by
pointing to other precontract activities, the acquisitions of the bill of lading and letter of credit.
But these facts are just as consistent with an intent to contract as they are with pre-contracting
activities undertaken in reliance on an imminent formation of a contract. Further, they do not
bear upon the question whether Hanwha, in offering its bid for the Toluene, intended to be
bound from the bid itself.

4. Neither of Hanwha's principal cases provides otherwise. In neither case did the courts
consider the issue whether the offeror intended to be bound by its offer. See Chateau des
Charmes Wines Ltd. v. Sabate USA Inc., 328 F.3d 528 (9th Cir. 2003); Solae, LLC v. Hershey
Canada, Inc., 557 F. Supp. 2d 452 (D. Del. 2008). Hanwha can take no comfort from such
easily distinguishable cases.

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