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AHRENHOLTZ v. LARAMIE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
2003 WY 149
82 P.3d 714
Case Number: 02-165
Decided: 12/23/2003
Cite as 2003 WY 149A.

OCTOBER TERM, A.D. 2003

JOHN D. AHRENHOLTZ and PAM D.

AHRENHOLTZ; AHRENHOLTZ MASONRY, INC.;

and POINT NORTH LLC,

Appellants(Plaintiffs) ,

v.

LARAMIE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

CORPOARTION, a Wyoming non-profit

corporation; ROBERT J. "JOEL" COFFEY;

and ROBERT BOYSEN,

Appellees(Defendants) .

Appeal from the District Court of Albany County

The Honorable John C. Brooks, Judge

Representing Appellants:

John E. Stanfield of Laramie, Wyoming, and Walter Urbigkit of Cheyenne, Wyoming.  Argument by Messrs. Stanfield and Urbigkit.

Representing Appellees:

Philip A. Nicholas of Anthony, Nicholas, Tangeman & Yates, LLC, Laramie, Wyoming, for appellees Laramie Economic Development Corporation and Robert Boysen; and Mason F. Skiles and Joseph A. Rodriguez of Skiles & Rodriguez, LLC, Laramie, Wyoming, for appellee Robert J. Joel Coffey.  Argument by Messrs. Skiles and Nicholas.

Before HILL, C.J., and GOLDEN, LEHMAN, KITE, and VOIGT, JJ.

            HILL, Chief Justice.

[1]      This matter is before the Court on the defendants petitions for rehearing in Ahrenholtz v. Laramie Economic Development Corporation, 2003 WY 149, 79 P.3d 511 (Wyo. 2003).  We have granted the petitions for the limited purpose of substituting the following in place of 17 in the original opinion:

[17]   The elements of a claim for tortious interference with a prospective contractual relation are:

One who intentionally and improperly interferes with anothers prospective contractual relation (except a contract to marry) is subject to liability to the other for the pecuniary harm resulting from loss of the benefits of the relation, whether the interference consists of

(a)            inducing or otherwise causing a third person not to enter into or continue the prospective relation or

(b)            preventing the other from acquiring or continuing the prospective relation.

Restatement (Second) of Torts,  766B (1979); Birt v. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, Inc., 2003 WY 102, 71, 75 P.3d 640, 71 (Wyo. 2003).

[2]      The above change does not alter the holding of our opinion in Ahrenholtz.  The evidence and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom noted in that opinion, when viewed in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs as the party opposing the motion for summary judgment, are sufficient to raise a genuine issue of material fact whether the defendants actions were intentional and improper interference that:  (1)  induced or otherwise caused Wyoming Technical Institute (WTI) not to enter into or continue a prospective contractual relation with Ahrenholtz; or (2)  prevented Ahrenholtz from acquiring or continuing a prospective contractual relation with WTI.

[3]      Nothing in this opinion on rehearing or in our original opinion at 2003 WY 149; 79 P.3d 511, should be construed to prohibit the defendants from presenting any defense at trial based upon the provisions of the Restatement (Second) of Torts that have been adopted by this Court.

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