Henderson v. Benson-Hartman Motors, Inc.

33 Pa. D. & C.3d 6, 1983 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 84
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County
DecidedNovember 18, 1983
Docketno. 8849 of 1982
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 33 Pa. D. & C.3d 6 (Henderson v. Benson-Hartman Motors, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henderson v. Benson-Hartman Motors, Inc., 33 Pa. D. & C.3d 6, 1983 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 84 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1983).

Opinion

WETTICK, A.J.,

Plaintiffs are Bercon Packaging, Inc., the lessee of a new Lincoln Continental, and Robert W. Henderson, the chairman of Bercon Packaging, who had the use of this automobile for personal and business purposes pursuant to his employment contract. Defendants are Benson-Hartman Motors, Inc. (Benson Lincoln), the automobile dealer from which Bercon Packaging leased the Lincoln, and Ford Motor Company, the manufacturer of the Lincoln. The lease agreement was for 48 months and provided for monthly rental payments of $510.62.

Plaintiffs allege that upon delivery, they discovered major defects which rendered the automobile unsafe and unfit and that defendants failed to remedy these defects within a reasonable time. In this action, plaintiffs seek a refund of their security deposit and the rental payments which they made, consequential and incidental damages, and attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses. Plaintiffs base their claim on the breach of express and implied warranties, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty-Federal Trade Commission Improvement Act, 15 U.S.C. §2301 et seq., and the breach of the lease agreement. Defen[8]*8dants have filed preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer to each count. These preliminary objections are the subject of this opinion and order of the court.

I.

Plaintiffs base their breach of warranty claim on the express warranties contained in the 1983 Warranty Facts booklet issued by Ford Motor Company and the implied warranty provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code. Defendants contend that this warranty claim should be dismissed because (a) the Uniform Commercial Code’s implied warranty protections do not extend to leases, (b) plaintiff corporation is the only party to the lease agreement, so Henderson cannot maintain an action in his individual capacity, and (c) the lease agreement between the dealer and the corporate lessee disclaimed all warranty protections.

A.

At this stage of the proceedings, we cannot conclude that the Uniform Commercial Code’s implied warranty protections do not extend to the four year lease agreement between Bercon Packaging and Benson Lincoln because this transaction appears to closely resemble an installment sales agreement. This lease agreement extends for most of the useful life of the automobile. The payments due under the lease agreement may be almost equal to the full purchase price, with interest, of the automobile under a four year installment sales agreement. Also, unlike typical lease agreements, the responsibility for maintaining the automobile rests with the lessee, taxes are to be paid by the lessee, the lessee must obtain insurance, and in the event of default the lessee pays the remaining installments and receives a credit for the proceeds from the sale of the automobile. In addition, the lease was assigned to Ford [9]*9Motor Credit Company on the date that it was accepted by the automobile dealer.

In Pennsylvania the substance of the transaction — and not its legal form — dictates the substantive rights of the parties to the transaction. Commonwealth v. Monumental Properties, Inc., 459 Pa. 450, 329 A.2d 812, 823-4 (1974). Prior to the enactment of the Uniform Commercial Code, the Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act explicitly extended the Act’s protections to bailment lease contracts (Act of June 28, 1947, P.L. 1110, §§2&3, 69 P.S. §§602, 3) and Pennsylvania case law had extended the warranty protections of the Uniform Sales Act, 69 P.S. §124 to leases that resembled installment sales. Hartford Battery Sales Corporation v. Price, 119 Pa. Super. 165, 181 Atl. 95 (1935); Conn v. Hunsberger, 224 Pa. 154, 73 Atl. 324 (1909); Crown Printing Company v. Charles Beck Company, 73 Pa. Super. 419, Atl. (1920); Shannon v. Boggs & Buhl, 124 Pa. Super. 1, 187 Atl. 313 (1936). The Uniform Commercial Code was not intended to alter this case law. Comment 2 to section 2-313 of the code (13 Pa.C.S. §2313) provides:

“Although this section is limited in its scope and direct purpose to warranties made by the seller to the buyer as part of a contract for sale, the warranty sections of this Article are not designed in any way to disturb those lines of case law growth which have recognized that warranties need not be confined either to sales contracts or to the direct parties to such a contract. They may arise in other appropriate circumstances such as in the case of bailments for hire

Also, the Pennsylvania Bar Association Notes —1953 to Section 2-102 of the Uniform Commercial Code cite with approval Shannon v. Boggs & [10]*10Buhl, supra, which applied the warranty provisions of the Uniform Sales Act to a bailment lease.

Our appellate courts have not decided whether the Uniform Commercial Code’s warranty protections will extend to any transactions cast in the form of a lease. However, in related issues the courts have extended protections provided to purchasers to non-sales transactions. In Berkebile v. Brantley Helicopter Corp., 462 Pa. 83, 337 A.2d 893 (1975), the court in discussing the scope of Section 402(a) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts stated:

“The term ‘seller’ is used generically to include all suppliers of products who, because they are engaged in the business of selling or supplying a product, may be said to have ‘undertaken and assumed a special responsibility’ toward the consuming public and who are in a position to spread the risk of defective products. (Citation omitted.) The actual form of the transaction of such suppliers, whether by sale, lease or bailment, should not alter their obligations . ...” 337 A. 2d at 898 (fn. 3)

In Francioni v. Gibsonia Truck Corporation, 472 Pa. 362, 372 A.2d 736 (1977), the court extended the strict liability provisions of Section 402(a) to the lessee of a truck stating:

“By the adoption of Section 402(a), that responsibility [of reducing hazards to life and health inherent in defective products that reach the market] was placed on those who, through manufacturing and distribution, intend that products ‘reach the market’. (Citations omitted.) While Section 402(a) speaks only in terms of ‘sellers’, the foregoing policy statement and accompanying citations demonstrate the propriety of extending its application to anyone ‘who enters into the business of supplying human beings with products which may endanger the safety of their persons and property, . . . ’ (Citation omit[11]*11ted.) What is crucial to the rule of strict liability is not the means of marketing but rather the fact of marketing, whether by sale, lease or bailment, for use and consumption by the public.” (Citations omitted.) 327 A.2d at 738

This court’s conclusion is consistent with the opinion of Judge Louik of this court in Bugay v. Pearl, 2 D.&C. 3d 336 (1976), which extended the warranty provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code to the lease of a ladder and with Industrial Uniform Rental Company, Inc., and Stork Diaper Service, Inc. v. International Harvester Company, 6 Phila. Co. Rep.

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33 Pa. D. & C.3d 6, 1983 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 84, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henderson-v-benson-hartman-motors-inc-pactcomplallegh-1983.