Cucchi v. Rollins Protective Services Co.

574 A.2d 565, 524 Pa. 514, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 737, 1990 Pa. LEXIS 102
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 26, 1990
DocketJ-18-1990
StatusPublished
Cited by46 cases

This text of 574 A.2d 565 (Cucchi v. Rollins Protective Services Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cucchi v. Rollins Protective Services Co., 574 A.2d 565, 524 Pa. 514, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 737, 1990 Pa. LEXIS 102 (Pa. 1990).

Opinions

OPINION ANNOUNCING THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

LARSEN, Justice.

The principal issue presented by this appeal is whether Chapter 21 of the Uniform Commercial Code — Sales, 13 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2101-2725, applies generally to transactions involving the lease of goods, and in particular, to the lease of the burglar alarm system which is the subject of this case.

The evidence adduced at trial discloses the following. In July, 1973, appellants Anthony and Grace Cucchi leased from appellee, Rollins Protective Services Company (“Rollins”), a burglar alarm system for installation in and protec[516]*516tion of their family residence. Appellant Anthony Cucchi and a sales representative for Rollins signed a printed form entitled “Installation-Service Contract” which provided that appellants would pay the sum of $500.00 for installation of the burglar alarm system and a $15.00 monthly fee for service and maintenance of the system. This contract further provided that the “Rollins Protective System shall remain personal property and title thereto shall continue in Rollins,” that appellants were to refrain from damaging the system, and that upon termination of the lease, the system would be returned to Rollins. Additionally, the contract contained a $250.00 limitation of liability provision for all loss or damage resulting from failure of the system in operation or performance.

The written contract expressly set forth the condition that: “This contract shall not be binding upon Rollins until accepted at Rollins’ Home Office.” In fact, the contract was never signed or executed by “Rollins’ Home Office.” However, appellants paid Rollins to install the burglar alarm system, and Rollins installed said system in appellants’ residence.1 Since that time in 1973, • Rollins has maintained and serviced this burglar alarm system on a regular and continuing basis, including the replacement of component parts as needed, and appellants have made regular monthly payments for service and maintenance charges.

On February 2, 1984, appellants’ home was burglarized and approximately $36,000.00 worth of personal property was stolen. Mrs. Cucchi recalled activating the burglar alarm system before she left the residence on the day of the burglary. When appellants’ daughter discovered the burglary later that day, the burglar alarm system was activated but was not operating or signalling an alarm. Subse[517]*517quent testing that night and the following day indicated that the system was operating only intermittently.

Rollins’ representatives did all of the maintenance on the burglar alarm system, and the last service check had been on January 13, 1984. Within three months preceding the burglary, Rollins’ personnel had replaced two transmitters which were integral component parts of the system.

On October 30, 1985, appellants filed a civil action in the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County seeking damages against Rollins for the loss of their personal property. The complaint sounded in assumpsit for breach of express and implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for intended use (Count I), in trespass for negligence in manufacturing, installing, repairing and servicing the burglar alarm system (Count II), and in trespass on a strict liability theory under section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (Count III).

Rollins denied the allegations of liability, and asserted various defenses to the claims, including that the action was time-barred by the applicable statute of limitations and that any damages were limited to $250.00 by the express limitation of damages provision of the written contract.

The trial court, the Honorable Melvin G. Levy presiding, granted Rollins’ motion for summary judgment as to the strict liability/402A count, but denied the motion on the remaining counts. Prior to trial, Rollins moved to admit the written “Installation-Service Contract” in its entirety as a “judicial admission” of fact, since the appellants had attached said contract to their complaint and relied upon it in their pleadings. The trial court denied this motion on the grounds that the written contract was not legally binding on the parties because it had never been executed by a representative of Rollins’ home office as expressly required as a condition precedent to the binding effect of the contract.2 Accordingly, the case proceeded to trial not on the [518]*518written contract, but upon the contract implied by the actions, oral representations and course of conduct of the parties.

At trial, appellant Anthony Cucchi testified as to the representations made by Rollins’ salesman in July, 1973. These representations included that the system was “state of the art” and “almost unbeatable.” Notes of Testimony, Trial, March 3, 1987 at 118. Additionally, Mr. Cucchi stated that the salesman “represented that this system would do what I wanted it to do which was to provide the safety, knowing that either if we were home, someone was entering my house and/or while we were out a siren would go off and it would ring in the neighborhood.” Id.

At the close of the evidence, Rollins moved for a directed verdict on the express warranty and negligence counts. The trial court directed a verdict for Rollins as to the negligence count only, but found sufficient evidence of an express oral warranty to the effect that the burglar alarm system would provide safety. The jury was therefore instructed on appellants’ breach of warranty claim, both express and implied.

The jury returned a verdict in the amount of $20,000.00 for appellant Grace Cucchi and $10,000.00 for appellant Anthony Cucchi. Rollins filed post-trial motions which were denied by the court of common pleas.3

On appeal to Superior Court, Rollins raised four issues for review: whether the trial court erred in ruling that the Installation-Service Contract was a nullity; whether the [519]*519court erred in denying its motion for directed verdict based on the insufficiency of the evidence to support the breach of warranty claim; whether the court erred in admitting evidence of subsequent repairs; and whether the trial court erred in denying its motion for directed verdict based upon the statute of frauds and statute of limitations defenses contained in the Uniform Commercial Code, (“UCC”), 13 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2201 (requiring contracts for the sale of goods for over $500.00 to be in writing, except as otherwise provided) and 2725 (four year statute of limitations in contracts for sale), respectively. In a unanimous opinion by President Judge Vincent A. Cirillo (joined by Judge Patrick R. Tamilia and Senior Judge John P. Hester), the Superior Court panel addressed each of these issues, and resolved all but one against Rollins. On this one last issue, Superior Court held that the provisions of the UCC regarding express and implied warranties and its statute of limitations were applicable to the transaction involving the lease of the burglar alarm system, and that the Cucchis’ complaint for breach of warranty under the UCC was untimely under section 2725, 13 Pa.C.S.A. § 2725, because it was filed more than four years after the system was delivered. The Superior Court thus vacated the judgment of the lower court, and dismissed the breach of warranty action against Rollins.

Appellants challenged Superior Court’s ruling on the statute of limitations by filing a petition for allowance of appeal in this Court.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
574 A.2d 565, 524 Pa. 514, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 737, 1990 Pa. LEXIS 102, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cucchi-v-rollins-protective-services-co-pa-1990.