CEF Enterprises, Inc. v. Betts

838 So. 2d 999, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 9, 2003 WL 115317
CourtCourt of Appeals of Mississippi
DecidedJanuary 14, 2003
Docket2002-CA-00570-COA
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 838 So. 2d 999 (CEF Enterprises, Inc. v. Betts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Mississippi primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
CEF Enterprises, Inc. v. Betts, 838 So. 2d 999, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 9, 2003 WL 115317 (Mich. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

838 So.2d 999 (2003)

CEF ENTERPRISES, INC., Appellant,
v.
Terry BETTS, Appellee.

No. 2002-CA-00570-COA.

Court of Appeals of Mississippi.

January 14, 2003.

*1001 David R. Sparks, Tupelo, attorney for appellant.

Victor Israel Fleitas, Tupelo, attorney for appellee.

Before KING, P.J., and LEE and IRVING, JJ.

LEE, J., for the court.

¶ 1. CEF Enterprises, Inc. (CEF), parent company of Burger King Restaurants, appeals the judgment granted in favor of the Appellee, Terry Betts. The County Court of Lee County, after a bench trial, awarded Betts $1,249.83 in damages plus court costs. CEF appealed to the Circuit Court of Lee County where the judgment was affirmed. Aggrieved, CEF now appeals to this Court. Finding no error, we affirm.

FACTS

¶ 2. On July 27, 1998, Mr. Terry Betts purchased a biscuit and gravy breakfast from the drive-thru window of a Burger King Restaurant in Tupelo. Betts parked in the parking lot of the Burger King and began to eat his breakfast. Betts found a bug in his food, immediately got sick and vomited. He then entered the Burger King where he spoke to employees and informed them about the bug and asked to speak to a manager. According to Betts, the employees made no other response but to laugh and snicker at him. Aggravated at this, Betts told the employees he was going to his lawyer's office and took the adulterated food item with him.

¶ 3. After stopping at his lawyer's office, Betts went to the emergency room sometime later. There, he was treated for nausea and given suppositories. The hospital also found that Betts's blood pressure was high. Betts went home and later that evening had to be driven to the hospital by his wife for additional treatment for the nausea and vomiting. According to Betts, his nausea and vomiting continued for approximately two to three more weeks.

¶ 4. Betts filed a complaint with the County Court of Lee County on August, 27, 1998. This complaint alleged that CEF breached its implied warranty of merchantability by allowing its food product to become contaminated with a bug.

¶ 5. In November of 2000, Betts filed a motion to amend his original complaint. *1002 Betts sought to add strict liability, negligence per se and negligence as legal theories in addition to his original complaint of breach of implied warranty of merchantability. He also sought to increase the ad damnum amount from $49,000 to $74,999. CEF filed a motion opposing this amendment and the county court held a pretrial hearing on the matter in January 2001.

¶ 6. During this hearing, CEF claimed this motion was not actually a motion to amend but a motion to supplement the original complaint. Additionally, inasmuch as two years had passed since the case was filed, CEF claimed it would be too prejudicial to grant the motion. The trial judge granted Betts's motion on the ground that under M.R.C.P. 15, motions to amend are to be liberally allowed. He stated that since the trial date had not been set, it would not be too prejudicial to CEF to allow the amendment. In order to insure against any future prejudice against the defendant, any further discovery would be approved by the trial judge before it could proceed.

¶ 7. The trial took place in June of 2001 in the County Court of Lee County. Through his testimony, Betts claimed to have kept the contaminated biscuit in his freezer at home. Betts admitted to past blood pressure problems and told the court he had received no other medical or psychiatric care besides the two emergency room visits. Betts claimed no loss of wages as he had been unemployed for approximately eleven years. Also at trial, two Burger King employees testified they saw no bug in Betts's biscuit. The same two Burger King employees plus an additional employee said they kept the adulterated food and threw it away. All of them said they saw Betts leave with nothing in his hand.

¶ 8. In his opinion, the trial judge found for Betts, stating there was sufficient proof of negligence and breach of implied warranty of merchantability in that the employees knew or should have known a bug was in their food product. He also held the biscuit in question was the direct cause of Betts's illness. Stating the damages were not permanent in nature, not overly serious, or long term, the judge awarded Betts $1,249.83 plus costs of court.

¶ 9. CEF appealed this decision to the Circuit Court of Lee County, which affirmed the judgment of the county court. CEF now is seeking relief from this Court.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 10. The county court is the finder of fact, and we, like the circuit court, are bound by the judgment of the county court if supported by substantial evidence and not manifestly wrong. Patel v. Telerent Leasing Corp., 574 So.2d 3, 6 (Miss.1990). Such findings may not be disturbed on appeal provided there is substantial supporting evidence in the trial record. Dungan v. Dick Moore, Inc., 463 So.2d 1094, 1100 (Miss.1985).

ARGUMENT AND DISCUSSION OF LAW

¶ 11. CEF assigns the following issues on appeal: (1) the circuit court erroneously affirmed the judgment of the county court, said judgment not being supported by substantial evidence, (2) the lower court erred in allowing appellee to supplement/amend his complaint more than two years after the initial filing of the complaint, (3) the lower court erred in awarding damages to appellee, there being insufficient proof to support such award, (4) the lower court erred in failing to reconsider the entry of the judgment awarded to appellee or, in the alternative, to grant appellant a new trial, and (5) the lower court erred by applying the wrong legal standard in making its decision. Finding that issues one, *1003 three and four are redundant, we will combine them into one main issue addressing the sufficiency of the evidence and the appropriateness of the damages awarded by the lower court.

I. WHETHER THERE WAS SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE IN THE TRIAL RECORD TO SUPPORT THE JUDGMENT OF THE LOWER COURT.

¶ 12. In the order issued by the county court judge, he found that under the proof presented at trial, two theories of law were applicable: negligence and breach of implied warranty for merchantability. This Court finds adequate evidence existed to support the trial judge's findings with regard to both of these causes of action.

¶ 13. In order to prove negligence, Betts had to show that CEF owed him a duty, breached that duty, and proximately caused Betts's injury and damages. Foster v. Bass, 575 So.2d 967, 972 (Miss.1990).

¶ 14. The implied warranty of merchantability is found in Miss.Code. Ann. § 75-2-314 (Rev.2002). This section provides in pertinent part: (1) a warranty that the goods shall be merchantable is implied in a contract for their sale if the seller is a merchant with respect to goods of that kind, (2) in the case of fungible goods, they are of fair average quality within the description, and (3) are fit for the ordinary purposes for which such goods are used.

¶ 15. To recover for breach of an implied warranty, the plaintiff must establish: (1) the defendant was a merchant which sold goods of the kind involved in the transaction, (2) that the defect was present when the product left the defendant's control, and (3) the injuries to the plaintiff were caused proximately by the defective nature of the goods. See Vince v. Broome, 443 So.2d 23, 26 (Miss.1983); Crocker v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 346 So.2d 921, 923-24 (Miss.1977).

¶ 16.

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Bluebook (online)
838 So. 2d 999, 2003 Miss. App. LEXIS 9, 2003 WL 115317, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cef-enterprises-inc-v-betts-missctapp-2003.