United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________

No. 07-3154 ___________

Praxis Capital, LP, * * Appellee, * * v. * * Jeremy Gardner, * * Defendant, * * Gerald Gardner, * * Appellant, * * Chris Alford; Harold Cook; Wanda * Cook; Cutting Edge Fabrications, * * Defendants. * ___________ Appeals from the United States No. 07-3157 District Court for the ___________ Western District of Missouri.

Praxis Capital, LP, * [UNPUBLISHED] * Appellee, * * v. * * Jeremy Gardner, * * Appellant, * * Gerald Gardner; Chris Alford; * Harold Cook; Wanda Cook; * Cutting Edge Fabrications, * * Defendants. * ___________

Submitted: July 13, 2009 Filed: July 16, 2009 ___________

Before WOLLMAN, RILEY, and SMITH, Circuit Judges. ___________

PER CURIAM.

In these consolidated appeals, defendants Gerald and Jeremy Gardner appeal the district court’s1 grant of summary judgment to plaintiff Praxis Capital, L.P. in its diversity action under Missouri law. Following careful review, see Johnson v. Blaukat, 453 F.3d 1108, 1112 (8th Cir. 2006) (de novo review of summary judgment); Ahlberg v. Chrysler Corp., 481 F.3d 630, 637 (8th Cir. 2007) (abuse-of-discretion review of discovery rulings), we affirm the grant of summary judgment for the reasons stated in the district court’s opinion, and we find no abuse of discretion in any discovery rulings. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. We also deny the motion to strike portions of Praxis’s appellate brief. _____________________________

1 The Honorable Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr., Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

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