Gallagher v. Roach

1982 Mass. App. Div. 279, 4 Mass. Supp. 126, 1982 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 67
CourtMassachusetts District Court, Appellate Division
DecidedNovember 15, 1982
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 1982 Mass. App. Div. 279 (Gallagher v. Roach) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts District Court, Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gallagher v. Roach, 1982 Mass. App. Div. 279, 4 Mass. Supp. 126, 1982 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 67 (Mass. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

Jodrey, J.

This is an action for breach of warranty and for the defendant’s alleged unfair and deceptive practices in violation of G.L. c. 93A in the sale to the plaintiff of a boat. The sole question for review is the propriety of the trial court’s allowance of the defendant’s Dist/Mun. Cts. R. Civ. P., Rule 12 (b)(6) motion to dismiss.

The plaintiffs complaint alleges that on November 9, 1978, the plaintiff executed a [280]*280written agreement with Norwood Marine, Inc. for the purchase of the vessel “Gra-Ben” for the sum,of $21,375.00. Norwood warranted that the engines on the vessel would be free from all defects in materials and workmanship.

The vessel was delivered to the plaintiff in May of 1979. On August 3 and August 16, 1979, the boat’s port engine failed and the plaintiff was required to return the vessel to Norwood for repairs. Norwood returned the boat upon the representations that a new base engine and parts had been installed in a good and workmanlike manner. In July of 1980, the port engine failed for a third time, and Norwood refused to either examine the boat or to undertake any repairs.

The plaintiff thereafter brought the vessel to a different marine yard for repairs to the port engine. It was at that time disclosed to the plaintiff that Norwood had not installed a new base engine in the boat, as represented, but had instead installed a “used, re-cut defective automotive head on the right bank and improperly installed the valve keepers on the exhaust valve on the number 2 cylinder in said bank and failed to disclose the same to the plaintiff.” The plaintiff alleged out-of-pocket expenses in the amount of $3,145.00 in repair and loss of the use of the boat amounting to $6,000.00.

The complaint alleged, in paragraph 5 thereof, that “the defendant as manager of Norwood, actively, and personally participated in the conduct complained of herein.”

The complaint further alleges that a G.L. c. 93A, §9 (3) demand letter was forwarded to the defendant on April 27, 1980.

The defendant’s motion to dismiss asserts that the plaintiff s complaint fails to state a claim upon which relief could be granted.

The report indicates that during oral argument on this motion,1 ‘the parties discussed, without objection’ ’ an action pending in the United States District Court in the District of Massachusetts entitled “Norwood Marine, Inc. v. the yacht GRA-BEN and Paul L. Gallagher” (hereinafter pending suit). Said action was brought under the admiralty jurisdiction of the federal court, in rem against the vessel and in personam against the present plaintiff, for the plaintiff’s failure to pay for necessaries allegedly furnished by Norwood. The present plaintiff filed a counterclaim in the pending suit for breach of warranty and G.L.c. 93A damages. Norwood answered by way of affirmative defense to said counterclaim that:

the counterclaimant’s cause of action does not arise out of any activity within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States District Court and involves damages of less than $10,000 between citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and thus is not within the diversity jurisdiction of the United States District Court.

Attached to the report as exhibits are copies of the complaint and answer in the pending suit. The report does not indicate that these federal pleadings were introduced in the trial court during oral argument upon the defendant’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion.

The trial court allowed the motion to dismiss and entered judgment for the defendant. No subsidiary findings were made. The report states that “during said argument on said Motion to Dismiss, the trial judge did not give the plaintiff an opportunity to present additional materials. The plaintiff did not request such an opportunity.”

The plaintiff is before this Division on a charge of error in the trial court’s dismissal of this action pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6).

The trial court’s allowance of the defendant’s Dist./Mun. Cts. R. Civ. P., Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss must be vacated for the plaintiff’s complaint does not reveal “beyond doubt that there is no set of facts which the plaintiff could prove in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief. ” Fabrizio v. Quincy, Mass. App. Ct. Adv. Sh. (1980) 991, 992; Curran v. Boston Police Patrolmen’s Assoc., Inc., 4 Mass. App. Ct. 40, 43 (1976).

In ruling on a Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal motion, a trial justice is required to accept as [281]*281true all allegations of the plaintiffs complaint and to draw all inferences from such allegations in favor of the pleader. Agis v. Howard Johnson Co., 371 Mass. 140, 141 (1976); HubTheatres, Inc. v. Massachusetts Port Auth., 370 Mass. 153, 154 (1976). In view of this standard, the plaintiff’s complaint must be deemed to set forth his purchase of goods from a merchant; the existence of defects in such goods; a resulting breach of the warranty applicable to such goods and the plaintiffs concomittant financial loss. Such facts, if proven, would permit a recovery under G.L. c. 93A, §9.

To withstand a Rule 12 (b)(6) attack on a G.L. c. 93A claim, a pleader must allege sufficient facts to indicate (a) a purchase or lease; (b) involving goods for personal, family or household purposes; (c) which results in a loss of money or property; (d) due to the “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” of the defendant and (e) that the plaintiff submitted a demand letter to the defendant prior to the commencement of suit. Slaney v. Westwood Auto Inc., 366 Mass. 688, 700-704 (1975); Baldassari v. Public Finance Trust, 369 Mass. 33 (1975). here the complaint alleges the purchase of a boat for personal use, plaintiffs financial loss due to the defendant’s alleged breach of warranty and the transmission of a demand letter. The plaintiff’s allegation of a failure by the defendant to disclose a defect in the vessel and breach of warranty are perse sufficient to satisfy the c. 93A “unfair and deceptive act” pleading requirement. Slaney v. Westwood Auto. Inc., supra at 702.

The defendant’s allegation that he cannot be charged, as servant or employee, for unfair or deceptive acts committed under a contract between the plaintiff and Norwood would appear to be without merit, at least at the pleading stage of this proceeding. The plaintiff must be deemed, in light of Nader v. Citron, 372 Mass. 96 (1977), to have precluded a Rule 12 (b)(6) dismissal of his c. 93A claim by alleging that the defendant “as manager of Norwood, actively and personally participated in the conduct” which forms the basis of the plaintiff’s suit.

The defendant contends that the trial court’s allowance of his motion can also be sustained pursuant to Rule 12(b)(9) on the basis of the prior pending action in the federal court. Such contention is without merit. Rule 12 (h)(1) provides, in relevant part, that “a defense of.. . pendency of a prior action is waived (a) if omitted from a motion in the circumstances described in subdivision (g), or (b) if it is neither made by motion nor included in a responsive pleading or an amendment thereof permitted by Rule 15 (a) to be made as a matter of course.” See, e.g., Jones v. Wayland, Mass. Adv. Sh. (1980) 669, 673, n.8.

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Bluebook (online)
1982 Mass. App. Div. 279, 4 Mass. Supp. 126, 1982 Mass. App. Div. LEXIS 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gallagher-v-roach-massdistctapp-1982.