HOLIDAY MANUFACTURING COMPANY v. BASF Systems, Inc.

380 F. Supp. 1096, 15 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 820, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7313
CourtDistrict Court, D. Nebraska
DecidedAugust 2, 1974
DocketCiv. 71-0-423
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 380 F. Supp. 1096 (HOLIDAY MANUFACTURING COMPANY v. BASF Systems, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Nebraska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
HOLIDAY MANUFACTURING COMPANY v. BASF Systems, Inc., 380 F. Supp. 1096, 15 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 820, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7313 (D. Neb. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SCHATZ, District Judge.

This matter came on for trial to the Court in an action commenced by Holiday Manufacturing Company against B. A.S.F. Systems, Inc. The suit was brought originally in the District Court for Hall County, Nebraska, and was duly removed by the defendant to this Court. Jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. § 1332, and diversity of citizenship and the requisite amount in controversy are established.

The plaintiff is a Nebraska corporation which manufactures plastics products. The defendant is a Massachusetts corporation which, among other things, purchases plastic cassettes and loads them with blhnk magnetic tape for sale to corporations which imprint music or the spoken word on the tape.

It is uncontroverted that there existed a contract between the plaintiff and the defendant for the manufacture and sale of six million plastic cassettes, although the terms of this contract are disputed in some respects. It is also uncontroverted that on April 5, 1971, the defendant cancelled this contract and others with the plaintiff, citing for its reasons “continuous quality problems and delivery delays.” The plaintiff asserts that this cancellation was unwarranted, that any non-conformity in the cassettes was caused by changes required by the defendant from the original drawings, and that, therefore, the defendant is liable to the plaintiff for damages for wrongful cancellation. The defendant denies wrongfully cancelling and counterclaims alleging that the plaintiff’s failure to produce goods conforming to the contract caused the defendant substantial monetary loss.

The actions of the parties relevant to the issue of wrongful cancellation occurred during the time from November of 1969 through April of 1971 and are listed chronologically by the Court as follows:

1) On November 21, 1969, Mr. E. Maschka of B.A.S.F. wrote Holiday soliciting a price quotation on a plastic cassette B.A.S.F. wished to purchase. Drawings for the cassette itself and all necessary parts were included, but the drawings were in German and used *1098 metric measurements and were for a screw-fastened cassette, whereas the cassettes B.A.S.F. wished to purchase were sonic-welded.

2) On December 18, 1969, Mr. 0. Mueller, President of Holiday, quoted B.A.S.F. a price of $.14144 per cassette for six million sonic-welded cassettes and $17,000 for the required tooling, i. e., the molds Holiday would use in its injection molding process to manufacture three parts of the cassette. The other parts were to be purchased by Holiday either from B.A.S.F. itself or from other suppliers.

3) On December 23, 1969, B.A.S.F. sent Holiday a purchase order for the tooling and on January 14, 1970, a purchase order for the cassettes (Purchase Order No. 20080), both at the prices quoted by Mr. Mueller on December 18. These purchase orders were accepted by Holiday on January 23,1970.

4) According to the cassette purchase order, delivery by Holiday was to commence in April of 1970 at the rate of five hundred thousand cassettes per month, and although the purchase order did not specifically so state, the Court concludes that shipment was to continue at that rate until delivery of the entire six million was completed.

5) English drawings for the cassette parts were received by Holiday on about January 19, 1970.

6) The tooling purchase order required Holiday to produce an eight-cavity cassette body mold which would produce four cassette tops and four bottoms at each shot. Holiday subcontracted this work, but the subcontractor did not commence work until February or March of 1970. Tooling for the first top and bottom cavity was not ready for a test shot until mid-April. Tooling for the second such cavity was not completed until mid-May, and the tooling for the final two such cavities was not completed until July.

7) On March 13, 1970, Mr. T. Magner of B.A.S.F. sent Holiday a copy of I.M.S.-A.100 Revision Two, which constituted B.A.S.F.’s standards for determining the acceptability of cassettes and included a sampling plan. This document did not vary the dimensional requirements previously given by B.A.S.F. to Holiday in the German and English drawings. This document stated that the M.I.L.-S.T.D. 105 D.C. Single Sampling Plan, which was a plan commonly used by manufacturers, would be used by B.A.S.F. to evaluate the cassettes, with an acceptable quality level of 2.5 per cent for major defects and 6.5 per cent for minor defects. A few examples of each type of defect were stated.

8) On March 27, 1970, samples of the cassette hubs and rollers which had been manufactured by Holiday from tooling built by Holiday at its own plant, were sent to B.A.S.F. for approval. B. A.S.F.’s inter-office correspondence indicated that B.A.S.F. tested and approved these parts as early as April 9.

9) On approximately April 14, Holiday made its first test shot of cassette halves. Shortly thereafter, Mr. L. Beauvais of B.A.S.F. visited the Holiday plant, and he and Holiday officials jointly determined these cassette halves to be inadequate due to “sink” (or shrinkage) on the surface. The problem was determined to be related to the energy directors, which are small raised portions on the cassette halves used in sonic-welding. Sonic-welding is a process by which high frequency sound is applied to the cassette halves, generating frictional heat at the energy directors, which results in a fusion of the two halves. Following this discussion by Holiday and B.A.S.F. officials, adjustments were then made in the tooling to correct the “sink” problem.

10) Although Holiday did not deliver five hundred thousand cassettes in April, the evidence does not disclose any form of protest by B.A.S.F. concerning this failure to comply with the terms of Purchase Order No. 20080.

11) On May 28, 1970, B.A.S.F. notified Holiday that sample cassette halves had been accepted mechanically.

12) By June 1, 1970, B.A.S.F. had given Holiday a list of gauges and pro *1099 cedures which B.A.S.F. recommended Holiday use to test the dimensions and strength of the cassette parts.

13) On June 4, 1970, B.A.S.F notified Holiday that all cassette parts had been tested and met B.A.S.F. specifications, with three exceptions. On June 10, 1970, the test results were sent to Holiday, and they indicated that only one of the exceptions—“sink” in the upper left corner—was serious. On June 22, 1970, B.A.S.F. notified Holiday that two hundred assembled cassettes had been functionally tested with a two per cent rejection rate. The Court concludes from the correspondence of May 28, June 4, June 10, and June 22, that B.A. S.F. accepted the cassette produced by Holiday at that time.

14) On June 24, B.A.S.F. notified Holiday of a further test of assembled cassettes which revealed 8.7 per cent and 10 per cent rejection rates for assembly-oriented defects. B.A.S.F. related to Holiday several criticisms of the Holiday operation, but no dimensional test results or supporting data were furnished. As a result of this criticism, Holiday stopped production for approximately two days to correct the defects.

15) On June 25, 1970, B.A.S.F.

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380 F. Supp. 1096, 15 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 820, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holiday-manufacturing-company-v-basf-systems-inc-ned-1974.