Consolidated Data Terminals v. Applied Digital Data Systems, Inc.

512 F. Supp. 581, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18453
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedFebruary 24, 1981
DocketCiv. No. C 79 0207 SW
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 512 F. Supp. 581 (Consolidated Data Terminals v. Applied Digital Data Systems, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Consolidated Data Terminals v. Applied Digital Data Systems, Inc., 512 F. Supp. 581, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18453 (N.D. Cal. 1981).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT

DANIEL HOLCOMBE THOMAS, Senior District Judge,

sitting by designation.

1. Plaintiff Consolidated Data Terminals (hereafter CDT) is a corporation engaged in the distribution of various computer terminals, including cathode ray tubes (hereafter CRTs).

2. Defendant Applied Digital Data Systems, Inc. (hereafter ADDS) is a corporation engaged in the manufacture of computer equipment, primarily CRTs.

A. The Agreement

3. In December 1976, CDT and ADDS entered into a written Distributorship Agreement (hereafter Agreement) whereby CDT became a non-exclusive distributor of ADDS’ products. (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1). ADDS had recently begun to use distributors to promote its products, having previously engaged only in direct sales. As a distributor, CDT was not a “user” of the ADDS’ products, but was solely engaged in selling the equipment.

4. Herbert Williams, president of CDT, had prior dealings with ADDS and relied in part upon these experiences in forming his understanding of the Agreement. He requested several changes in the terms of the Agreement and such changes were incorporated into the final Agreement.

5. There was no material disparity in bargaining power between ADDS and CDT with respect to the Agreement.

B. Customer Leads and Inquiries

6. Pursuant to the Agreement, ADDS agreed to provide CDT “from time to time, inquiries and leads received from prospective customers located within the geographic areas covered by (CDT).” (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1, ¶ 19). Sales leads are customarily provided by a manufacturer to the distributor and prove a vital factor in helping develop the distributor’s market.

7. ADDS received a small volume of end-user leads in the San Francisco Bay area during 1977 and 1978. Of these, many were retained by ADDS’ direct salesmen. CDT received less than twenty customer leads from ADDS during this entire period, although it received as many as 100 per month from other companies. CDT made periodic requests of ADDS and, in particular, of Jim Fleury, ADDS’ direct salesman in the Bay area, and in charge of the CDT account, for additional leads.

C. Consequential Damages Limitation

8. In the Agreement, ADDS agreed to accept purchase orders from CDT “under the terms and conditions of Schedule B” which was made a part of the Agreement. (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1, ¶ 5). Schedule B contains the “Terms and Conditions of Sale” and includes the following paragraph:

6. WARRANTY
ADDS warrants each new communications and terminal product manufactured by it to be free from defects in material and workmanship under normal use and service for a period of 90 days from the date of shipment. ADDS’ sole obligation under this warranty is limited to making good, at its factory, any product or any part or parts thereof found to be defective, provided the Buyer bears the cost of shipping charges in connection with the repair or replacement of the defective equipment.
ADDS MAKES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, AND ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OR MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WHICH EXCEED THE FOREGOING WARRANTY IS HEREBY DISCLAIMED BY ADDS AND EXCLUDED FROM ANY AGREEMENT MADE BY ACCEPTANCE OF ANY ORDER PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT. ADDS will not be liable for any consequential damages, loss or expense arising in connection with the use of or the inability to use its products for any purpose whatever. ADDS’ maximum liability shall not in any case exceed the contract price for the products.

[584]*584D. Salesmen’s Compensation

9. Pursuant to the Agreement, ADDS agreed to “credit the responsible ADDS territory salesman per the current ADDS Marketing Compensation Plan” for sales made by the distributor. (Plaintiff’s Exhibit 1, ¶ 14). ADDS did not give its salesmen a direct monetary interest in their distributors’ sales as agreed upon. As a result, ADDS’ direct salesmen pursued many small leads themselves rather than providing these leads to the distributor.

E. The Business Agreement

10. ADDS agreed to support CDT as a distributor of its products, in particular by maintaining a larger profit margin on its products than was usual in the industry.

11. ADDS enjoyed a reputation in the industry prior to 1978 for manufacturing high-quality, reliable products.

F. Pricing and Markets

12. ADDS maintained separate price lists for original equipment manufacturers (hereafter OEM), end-user and distributor sales and agreed to sell according to the appropriate price lists. The Agreement called for the Distributor to sell ADDS products at these prices.

13. For any given quantity, ADDS’ end-user products were higher than either OEM or distributor prices; the OEM price varied, but was higher than the distributor price until reaching or exceeding the 500 unit OEM price, at which time the OEM price was lower than the distributor price.

14. To qualify for ADDS’ OEM price, the purchaser must be an “original equipment manufacturer” or a “service bureau” as defined in Plaintiff’s Exhibit 54.

15. ADDS expected the distributor to confine itself to small OEMs or to the end-user market. ADDS, however, competed with its distributors, including CDT, for small OEM and any end-user sales through its direct salesmen.

G. The Regent Terminals

16. The Regent 100 and 200 terminals were first sold by ADDS to CDT in November or December 1977, after having been introduced into the trade in July 1977. These terminals were complex, sophisticated electronic equipment, which embodied technology new to CRTs.

17. ADDS represented that both terminals would operate at 19,200 baud (1920 characters per minute) when in fact none of the terminals would operate to these specifications. When introduced, the terminals did not operate properly at any level above 4800 baud and occasionally did not work properly at 1200 baud.

18. Of the terminals delivered to CDT, as many as 100% in a delivery were defective in some way, with as many as 25% being “DOA” or “dead on arrival” (inoperable).

19. ADDS attempted to repair the terminals found to be defective by sending a special team of engineers to customer sites on one occasion, and by setting up a repair depot to which a customer could ship the defective equipment in order to retrofit and upgrade the equipment. This repair and upgrading was performed at no charge to the customer and beyond the 90 day warranty period; however, the customer was charged with the shipping cost to and from the repair depot.

20. ADDS continued to sell and deliver the terminals to CDT even after many of the problems had been discovered and while knowing that the terminals continued to have problems and did not operate according to specifications. The production line of ADDS terminals did shut down on several occasions in 1978 for a few days at a time in an effort to solve the problems but would resume without completely accomplishing this purpose. ADDS continued to represent to CDT that its attempts to repair the defective units were, or would be successful.

21.

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512 F. Supp. 581, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18453, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/consolidated-data-terminals-v-applied-digital-data-systems-inc-cand-1981.