funds to the carrier or its designated agent to pay the outstanding invoice.
The carrier, on the other hand, engages Nationwide to finance its invoices for the transportation services rendered to the shipper.
Once the transportation services are complete, the carrier forwards its resulting invoice to Nationwide.
Nationwide sends the invoice to the shipper or, if the shipper uses Cass for its transportation invoice processing, to Cass for payment.
Nationwide dealt continuously with Cass for over 17 years, from 1986 until approximately mid summer 2003.
During the parties' 17-year relationship, Nationwide received prompt, regular payments from Cass on the transportation invoices it purchased from various interstate carriers.
Occasionally, over the parties' 17-year relationship, Cass erroneously sent a payment directly to a carrier when it should have gone to Nationwide.
When Cass erroneously misdirected a paymentto a carrier, Cass would make efforts to resolve the situation and ensure that Nationwide got paid.
In 2003, the parties discovered that several assigned invoices had erroneously been paid directly to a carrier called FWC, Inc. During the resolution of the FWC, Inc., situation, Cass asserted its rights under a hold harmless agreement signed by Nationwide in 1986.
Eventually, Nationwide received payment of the $25,000 misdirected to FWC, Inc.
After Cass asserted its rights under the 1986 hold harmless agreement, Nationwide terminated the agreement. Nationwide refused to sign a new hold harmless agreement.
On June 4th, 2003, Darla Haynes, Cass's former files and documentation supervisor, informed Nationwide that any future invoices which Cass received from Nationwide would not be paid.
Cass continues to refuse to make any payments to Nationwide. Nationwide continues