The old firm used phone lines to help state fish and wildlife agencies issue fishing and hunting licenses. A new outfit said it did the same thing, only better, by employing the Internet.

Hoping to seize the future, the old firm buys the new one for about $1 million. Then it finds out the Internet-using outfit kinda sorta didn't tell the whole truth about how well its software worked. It kinda sorta didn't work. And so buyer sues the seller for fraudulent inducement.

The parties try the case to the bench. The seller's defenses? That its false representations about the software amounted to meaningless jibber-jabber and that the buyer could have and should have found out the Truth in its due diligence.

The district court would have none of it, and the Eighth Circuit today agreed. Outdoor Central, Inc. v. GreatLodge.com, Inc., No. 11-3264 (8th Cir. Aug. 23, 2012).