American Aerial Services, Inc. v. Terex USA, LLC

39 F. Supp. 3d 95, 84 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 384, 2014 WL 4060241, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113337
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maine
DecidedAugust 15, 2014
DocketCase No. 2:12-cv-00361-JDL
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 39 F. Supp. 3d 95 (American Aerial Services, Inc. v. Terex USA, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Aerial Services, Inc. v. Terex USA, LLC, 39 F. Supp. 3d 95, 84 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 384, 2014 WL 4060241, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113337 (D. Me. 2014).

Opinion

ORDER ON THE DEFENDANTS’ MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

JON D. LEVY, District Judge.

This matter is before the court on the Motions for Summary Judgment filed by the defendants, Terex USA, LLC (“Te-rex”) and The Empire Crane Company, LLC (“Empire”) (ECF Nos. 87 and 89, respectively). After careful review, I conclude that the defendants’ motions should be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.

I. INTRODUCTION

The plaintiff, American Aerial Services, Inc. (“American Aerial”) is a Maine company which supplies cranes and labor for the construction of steel buildings and other steel structures, and also rents cranes. [98]*98Pl.s Opp’n. Br., ECF No. 93 at 2. In late 2011, the president and founder of American Aerial, James Read (“Read”), decided to purchase a new crane to replace two existing cranes in American Aerial’s fleet. Read Dep., ECF No. 80-1 at 12-13. One of the cranes that Read was interested in and eventually purchased was the crane which is the subject of this lawsuit—a Terex Model T-780 truck crane (“the Crane”)1 manufactured by Terex. ECF No. 93 at 2-3.

In December 2011, Read contacted Chet Zerrillo, a salesman working for Empire, which is an authorized Terex dealer for the northeast United States, including the State of Maine. ECF No. 93 at 3. Shortly after speaking with Read about the potential purchase of a new crane and his interest in the Terex T-780, Zerrillo emailed Read on December 14, 2011, stating that, “[w]e found 1 T-780. It is at the factory, having just come off the line. I will not know until tomorrow if we can get it (however the dealer that ordered it has gotten many units from us)[.] I will not know the specs, or the price until tomorrow.” ECF No. 95-7 at 2. Zerrillo attached to his email a Terex advertising brochure (the “Data Sheet”) which included the Crane’s various specifications and information about its lifting capacity, which was presented in the form of a “load chart.” ECF No. 93 at 3. Read stated that the Data Sheet was “a primary factor” in his decision to purchase a T-780. Id. at 4. Each page of the Data Sheet containing load chart information also contained a disclaimer at the bottom which read, in small print, “[d]ata published herein is intended as a guide only and shall not be construed to warrant applicability for lifting purposes.” Data Sheet, ECF No. 75-4 at 8-17.

Unknown to American Aerial, and contrary to Zerrillo’s December 14 email, the Crane had not “just come off the line” and was not at the Terex factory, but instead was parked on a nearby storage lot. ECF No. 77-2 at 16. The Crane had actually been built five months earlier in July 2011, when it was purchased by a Terex distributor, Cropac Equipment, Inc. (“Cropac”), and was then parked and stored on Cro-pac’s storage yard awaiting a final purchaser. Id.; ECF No. 77-3 at 48.

On December 16, just two days after Zerrillo sent his email to Read, American Aerial signed a one-page sales contract with Empire to purchase the Crane for $615,000.00. ECF No. 77-1. The contract did not contain any language concerning warranties, warranty exclusions or limitations. Id. Approximately one week later, both parties agreed to a contract modification, whereby Empire agreed to deliver the Crane to American Aerial in Maine “no later than 11:49 pm on December 31, 2011.” ECF No. 95-8 at 2. American Aerial took delivery at its headquarters in Gray, Maine on December 30. ECF No. 93 at 4.

On January 6, 2012, a technician from Empire came to Maine to perform a delivery inspection of the Crane, and determined that the Crane’s engine was 22 quarts low on coolant and had likely been driven from Iowa to Maine in that condition. ECF No. 95 at 5-6, ¶¶20, 22-25. The same day, Read wrote a letter to Zerrillo to announce that he was “revoking the acceptance” of the Crane due to a partially shredded serpentine belt in the engine and the fact that the Crane had apparently been driven 1500 miles without [99]*99adequate coolant in the engine. ECF No. 95-9 at 3. In an accompanying email sent to Zerrillo later the same day, Read stated that his primary reason for sending the letter was “to preserve all of the rights of American Aerial Services to ensure that it received what it paid for and to timely notify all concerned parties of the problem.” ECF No. 95-10 at 2.

In late February 2012, Read emailed Zerrillo again, stating that the recently-replaced serpentine belt in the Crane’s engine had disintegrated again and that “the roof of the driver’s cab leaks, the jib will not retract properly, the boom is not fully retracting, fluid leaks under the engine, the boom sheaves slides [sic] side to side during operation causing the cable to fall off the boom and the smell of coolant is wafting through the air as the engine ran [sic].” ECF No. 95-11 at 2. Throughout March, April, and May 2012, Read spoke by telephone with Empire personnel about the Crane’s multiple problems. ECF No. 95 at 8, ¶ 33. In June 2012, Read sent an email to Luke Lonergan, Empire’s owner, regarding “issues that remain unresolved with the [Crane] that I purchased from you,” and stating additional alleged problems with the Crane, including a bent pulley, a faulty driver cab door, and an allegedly defective lock on the crane boom. ECF No. 95-12 at 2.

In August 2012, American Aerial hired a third-party vendor, Certified Boom Repair Service Northeast, LLC (“Certified Boom”), to repair damage to the “rooster sheave,” a component of the Crane which bolts to the top of the main telescoping boom. ECF No. 95 at 9, ¶41. In the course of making these repairs, service personnel at Certified Boom informed Read that certain welds on the Crane’s main boom and jib were defective. Id. at ¶ 42. The Crane was then inspected two weeks later by Ed Fleischer, a Terex Technical Support Representative, who met with Read to review all of American Aerial’s complaints about the Crane. Def.’s Stmt. Undisp. Mat. Fact, ECF No. 88 at 13, ¶ 69.

Two days after Fleischer inspected the Crane on behalf of Terex, American Aerial hired its own consultant, Roaring Brook Consultants, Inc. (“Roaring Brook”), to inspect the Crane. ECF No. 95 at 10, ¶ 46. As part of its inspection, Roaring Brook performed a “load test” to determine whether or not the Crane could safely lift the amount of weight for which it was rated. Id at 11, ¶ 50. Paul Roberts, the Roaring Brook inspector, testified that he ended the load test early when the Crane was lifting only 60% of its rated capacity because he was concerned about the Crane rolling over. Roberts Dep., ECF No. 82-1 at 12-13.

In mid-September, Fleischer submitted a written report to Empire regarding American Aerial’s complaints with the Crane. Fleischer Rept., ECF No. 78-11. The report recommended that an authorized dealer of the engine manufacturer replace a fan shroud which covered the engine’s radiator and otherwise “troubleshoot” the Crane’s engine. ECF No. 78-11 at 3 and 10. With regard to the other alleged defects, Fleischer suggested variously that the problem had already been repaired; or that it was the result of “operator error;” or was the result of unspecified “unknown repairs;” some of the asserted defects did not exist; or that the problem could be corrected by “dressing up the bad areas.” See id. at 2-10. In short, the Fleischer report suggested that Cummins, Inc., the manufacturer of the Crane’s engine, should perform work on the Crane and do follow-up troubleshooting, but that there was no corrective work for Terex to perform.

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39 F. Supp. 3d 95, 84 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 384, 2014 WL 4060241, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113337, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-aerial-services-inc-v-terex-usa-llc-med-2014.