Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Vincennes, Indiana, Inc.

209 F. Supp. 629, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3543
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedOctober 11, 1962
DocketCiv. A. No. 4538
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 209 F. Supp. 629 (Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Vincennes, Indiana, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. v. Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Vincennes, Indiana, Inc., 209 F. Supp. 629, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3543 (illinoised 1962).

Opinion

WILLIAM G. JUERGENS, District Judge.

This removed cause is before the court on the complaint of The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, a corporation (hereinafter referred to as “A & P”), for the use of The Travelers Indemnity Company, a corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Travelers”), and is against Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Vincennes, Indiana, Incorporated, a corporation (hereinafter referred to as “Pepsi-Cola”), and Underwriters at Lloyd’s of London, Signatory to Policy No. 3283, not incorporated (hereinafter referred to as “Lloyd’s”).

Jurisdiction in this cause is founded on diversity. A & P is a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of a state other than the State of Illinois or the State of Indiana and does not have its principal place of business in the State of Illinois. Pepsi-Cola is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Indiana and does not have its principal place of business in the State of Illinois. Lloyd’s is an association of insurance underwriters, being citizens of the United Kingdom, riot citizens of the United States, and does not have a principal place of business in the State of Illinois. The amount in controversy fairly exceeds the sum of $10,000.00, exclusive of interest and costs.

Plaintiff A & P and defendant Pepsi-Cola were defendants in a suit filed by one Marjorie L. Barbour on March 29, 1955 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois in Cause 3155 (herein sometimes referred to as the “original suit”). In that action plaintiff alleged she received injuries as the result of the negligence of A & P and Pepsi-Cola in bottling, packing, handling and distributing cartons and bottles of Pepsi-Cola and that as a result of that negligence a bottle of Pepsi-Cola, distributed by Pepsi-Cola and sold in an A & P store, broke, which was the proximate cause of the injury.

From the deposition of Ralph H. Freels, manager of the A & P store in Mount Carriiel, Illinois, the place of the injury, it appears that Mr. Freels, although present, did not actually see the accident but that he heard the noise which he described as “Well, it sounded like a liquid compressed when it breaks. It makes this kind of like a combustion sound.”; that he looked up and saw Mrs. Barbour standing alongside a checkout counter, holding her hand to her eye; that he went over to the counter and found a six-pack Pepsi-Cola carton lying on the floor with at least one or two broken bottles in a pool of Pepsi-Cola liquid; that he noticed Mrs. Barbour’s eye had been pierced by a piece of flying glass and that a fluid was flowing out of the eye; that he then took Mrs. Barbour to the doctor and afterward returned to the store; that upon his return the Pepsi-Cola carton and the broken bottles had been cleaned up; that the carton was soaked wet and soggy, apparently from the fluid in which it had lain in the floor after the accident; that one of the bottles had been removed to his office for keeping for future reference ; that this bottle was not full; that part of the fluid had leaked from the bottle; that the carton had the bottom or side torn out of it; that Pepsi-Cola was delivered to the A & P store in question in six-pack cartons in wooden half shells, which were placed in the back room of the A & P store by a Pepsi-Cola distributor, namely, the Tenbarge Distributing Company; that the deliveries were paid for by malting payment to one Burns; that the Pepsi-Cola was bottled by the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company of Vincennes, Indiana; that after the Pepsi-Cola was deposited in the storage room, employees of A & P then removed it to the shelves for sale in the cartons.

The accident from which Mrs. Barbour received her injuries arose out of [631]*631the handling of a Pepsi-Cola product in a store owned and operated by A & P.

At the original trial the jury returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff Marjorie L. Barbour and against defendants A & P and Pepsi-Cola in the amount of $30,-000.00.

Subsequently, Richard E. Barbour filed suit against defendants A & P and Pepsi-Cola, which suit was settled for $2,500.00 plus cost of suit.

The evidence further shows that pursuant to stipulation A & P and Pepsi-Cola each paid in settlement one-half of the amounts to the Barbours as follows:

In the case of Marjorie L. Barbour:

One-half the amount of judgment plus interest......... $15,108.26

One-half the court costs .... 207.40

In the case of Richard E. Barbour: One-half the amount of settlement .................. $ 1,250.00

One-half the court costs..... 38.80

For a total expenditure by each of................... $16,604.46

In Count I the plaintiff seeks to recover from the defendants the amount that was paid on the judgment, the settlement, the court costs and its attorney fees expended in defending the original suit and expenses.

By Count II it seeks to recover five-eighths of the sum which it expended as shown in Count I in the event that it is found not to be entitled to recover under Count I and bases its claim on a policy of insurance issued by Lloyd’s.

The jury in the case of Marjorie L. Barbour against A & P and Pepsi-Cola by its verdict found in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendants jointly. Both of the defendants were found guilty of negligence as alleged in the complaint. No special interrogatories were submitted to the jury.

By its verdict the jury necessarily found that A & P and Pepsi-Cola were joint tort-feasors, and as such neither is entitled to recover from the other in the absence of special circumstances which do not here exist. (The fact that there may have been a policy of insurance extending from Lloyd’s to A & P for product liability does not enlarge any rights that A & P might have against Pepsi-Cola.) Accordingly, the court finds that judgment must be entered in favor of defendant Pepsi-Cola as to both Count I and Count II; and since recovery under Count I would likewise be based on a recovery among joint tortfeasors, judgment must be entered in favor of Lloyd’s as to Count I; Count II as pertains to Lloyd’s, however, rests on a different foundation, namely, the existence of a policy of insurance issued by Lloyd’s.

On the date of the occurrence out of which this action arises, there was in force and effect an insurance policy written by Lloyd’s, naming Pepsi-Cola among other insured, by which it agreed:

“To pay on behalf of the Insured all sums which the Insured shall become obligated to pay by reason of the liability imposed upon him by law for damages, * * * because of bodily injury, * * * at any time resulting therefrom * * * sustained by any person or persons, caused by accident and arising out of
“(1) the handling or use of or the existence of any condition in goods or products (and their containers) manufactured, sold, handled, or distributed by the Insured, if the accident occurs after the Insured has relinquished possession thereof to others and away from premises owned, rented or controlled by the Insured, * *

This policy also contained the following:

“VENDORS ENDORSEMENT (BROAD FORM)

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Bluebook (online)
209 F. Supp. 629, 1962 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/great-atlantic-pacific-tea-co-v-pepsi-cola-bottling-company-of-illinoised-1962.