Allan v. Massey-Ferguson, Inc.

378 N.W.2d 664, 221 Neb. 528, 42 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 873, 1985 Neb. LEXIS 1282
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 27, 1985
Docket84-659
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 378 N.W.2d 664 (Allan v. Massey-Ferguson, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Allan v. Massey-Ferguson, Inc., 378 N.W.2d 664, 221 Neb. 528, 42 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 873, 1985 Neb. LEXIS 1282 (Neb. 1985).

Opinion

Colwell, D.J.,

Retired.

This is an appeal from an order sustaining the defendant-appellee’s motion for summary judgment. We reverse and remand for trial.

On September 24,1975, plaintiff, George Allan, purchased a Massey-Ferguson 750 combine from Brodine, Inc., a dealer for the defendant manufacturer, Massey-Ferguson, Inc. *529 Massey-Ferguson manufactured and assembled the combine and its parts for delivery to the user. In October 1979 the combine began to malfunction, and on or about October 12, 1979, Allan contacted the Massey-Ferguson dealer in Grand Island and requested that the dealer send someone to inspect the machine. Lacking the personnel to inspect the machine that day, the dealer gave Allan instructions over the telephone. Allan followed the dealer’s instructions and discovered an allegedly defective intake manifold gasket which allowed dust-laden air into the engine, causing damage to the engine. As a result of the damage, Allan had the engine repaired at the cost of $4,733.67, which he now claims. In addition, he claims $8,170 in lost custom harvest work.

Allan’s petition, filed on October 7, 1981, alleges that Massey-Ferguson placed into the stream of commerce an engine with a gasket configuration that it knew or should have known was defectively designed and assembled so as to result in failure of the gasket sealant. Allan also alleged that Massey-Ferguson expressly and impliedly warranted that the combine was designed and assembled for the purpose of harvesting grains of all kinds and that it would operate under harvest conditions without damage or the necessity of modifications.

Massey-Ferguson answered, specifically denying that it gave Allan any warranties whatsoever and alleging that even if it had, Allan’s action was barred by Neb. U.C.C. § 2-725 (Reissue 1980), the Uniform Commercial Code’s statute of limitations. In sustaining the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, the court specifically found that Allan’s action was one for breach of express or implied warranty and concluded that the suit was barred by the 4-year statute of limitations. No finding was directed to the cause of action for negligence. Allan then perfected his appeal to this court.

Massey-Ferguson raises for the first time on appeal the contention that Allan’s petition fails to state and number separately a cause of action for negligence as required by Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-805 (Reissue 1979). This deficiency in pleading, Massey-Ferguson argues, precludes Allan from recovering on a negligence theory. Massey-Ferguson does not contend that *530 Allan’s facts as pleaded fail to state a cause of action for negligence; it claims only that the petition does not separately state and number specific causes of action as required by § 25-805.

Massey-Ferguson’s complaint about Allan’s petition comes too late. A party may demur to a petition when one of a number of defects appears on the face of the petition. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-806 (Reissue 1979). Defects not apparent on the face of the petition are raised in the answer. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-808 (Reissue 1979); Johnson v. Platte Valley Public Power and Irrigation District, 133 Neb. 97, 274 N.W. 386 (1937). If no objection is taken by either demurrer or answer, the defendant waives its right to object except when the objection is to either the court’s jurisdiction or to the petition’s failure to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. § 25-808.

Even assuming for the sake of discussion that Massey-Ferguson’s objection was timely, we cannot say that Allan’s petition does not comport with § 25-805. While we agree that the form of Allan’s petition is less than standard, when applying a liberal construction to the pleadings, George Rose Sodding & Grading Co., Inc. v. City of Omaha, 187 Neb. 683, 193 N.W.2d 556 (1972), appeal after remand 190 Neb. 12, 205 N.W.2d 655 (1973), we find that the petition states separate causes of action for negligence and breach of warranty.

We consider next Allan’s contention that § 2-725 does not bar his recovery under a breach of warranty theory. Section 2-725 provides in pertinent part:

(1) An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within four years after the cause of action has accrued. By the original agreement the parties may reduce the period of limitation to not less than one year but may not extend it.
(2) A cause of action accrues when the breach occurs, regardless of the aggrieved party’s lack of knowledge of the breach. A breach of warranty occurs when tender of delivery is made, except that where a warranty explicitly extends to future performance of the goods and discovery of the breach must await the time of such performance the cause of action accrues when the breach is or should have *531 been discovered.

(Emphasis supplied.)

This court interpreted and applied § 2-725 in Grand Island School Dist. #2 v. Celotex Corp., 203 Neb. 559, 279 N.W.2d 603 (1979), holding that an action for breach of warranty in the sale of goods must be commenced within 4 years of tender of delivery, that the failure to discover the breach prevents the running of the statute only when the warranty explicitly extends to future performance, and that an implied warranty cannot explicitly extend to future performance.

In Celotex a manufacturer of roofing materials had given a guaranty bond under which it promised to repair leaks in the roof caused by ordinary wear and tear for a period of 20 years. We found that the bond did not constitute a warranty as to the future performance of the goods and held that the discovery exception in § 2-725(2) “applies only where the seller explicitly states, for example, that the product will ‘last for 10 years.’ ” (Emphasis in original.) 203 Neb. at 568, 279 N.W.2d at 609.

We refined the Celotex rule in Moore v. Puget Sound Plywood, 214 Neb. 14, 332 N.W.2d 212 (1983), a case involving a purported implied warranty given by a manufacturer of lauan siding. The manufacturer pleaded affirmatively that the action for breach of implied merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose was barred by the statute of limitations in § 2-725. At trial the parties stipulated that the trial court could take judicial notice that siding is ordinarily supposed to “last the life of the house.” 214 Neb. at 16, 332 N.W.2d at 214.

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Bluebook (online)
378 N.W.2d 664, 221 Neb. 528, 42 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 873, 1985 Neb. LEXIS 1282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allan-v-massey-ferguson-inc-neb-1985.