Basic Adhesives, Inc. v. Robert Matzkin Co.

101 Misc. 2d 283, 420 N.Y.S.2d 983, 27 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 933, 1979 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2671
CourtCivil Court of the City of New York
DecidedOctober 1, 1979
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 101 Misc. 2d 283 (Basic Adhesives, Inc. v. Robert Matzkin Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Civil Court of the City of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Basic Adhesives, Inc. v. Robert Matzkin Co., 101 Misc. 2d 283, 420 N.Y.S.2d 983, 27 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 933, 1979 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2671 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1979).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Benjamin F. Nolan, J.

Plaintiff sues to recover $2,392.90, the balance of a trade account. Defendant admits that the balance is unpaid but refuses payment on grounds that the adhesives which plaintiff sold it were not fit for the purposes sold. Additionally, defendant counterclaims for $12,500 in money damages resulting from alleged breach of contract, breach of the warranty of merchantability and misrepresentation by plaintiff that it was an expert in adhesive products and materials. Plaintiff now moves for summary judgment.

Defendant is in the building and construction business. In September of 1976, defendant had jobs which required aluminum sheets to be laminated to plywood sheets on the outside of buildings. For this purpose, defendant ordered 60 gallons of aluminum-to-plywood adhesive from plaintiff. A five-gallon can of the adhesive was delivered personally by plaintiff’s representative on September 10, 1976 and a 55-gallon drum of the adhesive was shipped to defendant on September 17, 1976. Defendant admits that it received and used the adhesive in the installation of aluminum panels. Shortly thereafter, according to defendant, "delamination occurred”, which allegedly caused defendant to sustain money damages.

Defendant’s vice-president alleges that when defendant complained to plaintiff about the alleged delamination, plaintiff declined responsibility on the grounds that it did not warrant or guarantee the adhesive product. Defendant disagrees, claiming that before it ordered the adhesive, plaintiff’s representative expressly warranted at one of the job sites that plaintiff’s chemists had formulated a special adhesive (Formula No. BN-76-1113 D) that would fulfill the specific requirements of the jobs. The said formula number appears on the invoices covering the 60 gallons of adhesive eventually delivered to and used by defendant.

Plaintiff points to its trade label which it claims (and defendant does not deny) was affixed to the outside of the five-gallon can and the 55-gallon drum containing the adhesive delivered to and used by defendant. The label contains the following statement: "non-warranty: Since we have no control over the conditions under which these goods are trans[286]*286ported or stored, handled or used, we make no warranty, either express or implied, with respect to these goods or their fitness for any purpose or the results to be obtained from their use. No representative of ours has authority to waive or change this provision, which applies to all sales, if the purchaser DOES NOT ACCEPT THE GOODS ON THESE TERMS, THEY ARE to be returned at once, unopened.” Plaintiff claims that the foregoing warranty disclaimer is necessary because the adhesive is subject to countless abuses; and, that defendant had two opportunities to note the disclaimer on the label, the first, upon personal delivery of the five-gallon can by the very representative of plaintiff whom it claims made an express warranty to the contrary, and the second, upon the subsequent delivery of the 55-gallon drum. Besides, argues plaintiff, defendant had a reasonable opportunity to inspect and test the adhesive contained in the five-gallon can, so that, if it was not adequate, then the 55-gallon drum should have been returned unused. Additionally, plaintiff points out that each of its invoices states in bold writing at the bottom thereof that: "We are not responsible for the end use of this material. Merchandise covered by this invoice must be returned in 10 days, if not satisfactory.” And furthermore, plaintiff contends that, "any allegation by defendant that a warranty may have been effectuated by plaintiff’s salesman is not only excluded by plaintiff’s non-warranty on its label but is clearly outside of the course of conduct of the parties and the trade practice of this industry * * * Furthermore, the parties had been doing business for years and defendant was, therefore, fully familiar with plaintiff’s policy of non-warranty as shown on its labels.”

It should be noted at this point that buyer has the burden of proving its affirmative defense that there was an express warranty, while seller has the burden of proving that an implied warranty has been disclaimed where such implied warranty is otherwise presumed to exist. (Bennett v Piscitello, 259 App Div 964, affd 285 NY 584, rearg den 285 NY 743; Turl’s Sons v Williams Eng. Co., 136 App Div 710.)

Defendant’s opposition to this motion for summary judgment is embodied in a single affidavit of its vice-president, which does not sufficiently address itself to any of plaintiff’s contentions, and provides no evidentiary supports for its own contentions. Very recently, the Appellate Division, First Department, re-emphasized in Stainless Inc. v Employers Fire Ins. Co. (69 AD2d 27, 32) that: "The law is well settled that a [287]*287party opposing a motion for summary judgment must assemble and lay bare affirmative proof to demonstrate the existence of a genuine triable issue of fact (Shaw v Time Life Records, 38 NY2d 201; Capelin Assoc. v Globe Mfg. Corp., 34 NY2d 338; Di Sabado v Soffes, [9 AD2d 297]; Manowitz v Senter, 62 AD2d 898, app dsmd 45 NY2d 819, 837).”

Yet, defendant’s opposing affidavit does not supply any evidentiary facts in support of the express warranty which it claims was made. It does not say whether any such express warranty was reduced to writing, nor does it identify the person or persons to whom such express warranty was made, nor does it include any affidavit from anyone who might have heard such express warranty. Nor does defendant’s affidavit factually describe how it used the adhesive. Did it abuse the adhesive? Was. it subjected to freezing temperatures? Was it applied to unclean surfaces? Was it diluted with foreign substances? Was it utilized on improper surfaces which cannot sustain adhesion? Were the solvents allowed to evaporate? These are possible abuses which plaintiff points up in its moving affidavits as reasons why it imprints a warranty disclaimer on a label affixed to its adhesive containers. Yet, defendant does not address itself to any of these questions. Nor does it deny plaintiff’s claim that it was well aware of plaintiff’s policy of asserting nonwarranties in prior dealings between them. What is most incredible is that defendant’s opposing affidavit fails to address itself at all to the label containing the warranty disclaimer on plaintiff’s adhesive containers. Curiously, however, reference is made to it in an accompanying law memorandum which is critical of the size of the print on the label and which alleges that the warranty disclaimer on the label was not "conspicuous” within the meaning of section 2-316 of the Uniform Commercial Code. While "conspicuousness” is an issue of law, there are other considerations pertaining to the label which defendant should have addressed in its opposing affidavit but did not. The label specified that no representative of plaintiff had any authority to waive or change the nonwarranty. It further warned specifically in capitalized print that "if the purchaser does not accept the goods on these terms (of warranty disclaimer) they are to be returned at once, unopened.” The warranty disclaimer opened with an understandable expression of this seller plaintiff’s need for such a warranty disclaimer, namely that seller has "no control over the conditions under which [288]

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Bluebook (online)
101 Misc. 2d 283, 420 N.Y.S.2d 983, 27 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 933, 1979 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/basic-adhesives-inc-v-robert-matzkin-co-nycivct-1979.