Larry Goad and Co. v. Lordstown Rubber Co.

560 F. Supp. 583, 36 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 167
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Missouri
DecidedMarch 28, 1983
Docket82-369C(2)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 560 F. Supp. 583 (Larry Goad and Co. v. Lordstown Rubber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Larry Goad and Co. v. Lordstown Rubber Co., 560 F. Supp. 583, 36 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 167 (E.D. Mo. 1983).

Opinion

560 F.Supp. 583 (1983)

LARRY GOAD AND COMPANY, a Missouri Corporation, Plaintiff,
v.
LORDSTOWN RUBBER COMPANY, an Ohio Corporation, Defendant.

No. 82-369C(2).

United States District Court, E.D. Missouri, E.D.

March 28, 1983.

*584 William Ohlhausen, St. Louis, Mo., for plaintiff.

Leo J. Kelly, Pittsburgh, Pa., Robert F. Schlafly, St. Louis, Mo., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM

NANGLE, District Judge.

Plaintiff, Larry Goad and Company, brought this cause of action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. S 1332, to recover damages resulting from the purchase of defective rubber. The plaintiff contends that it is entitled to be reimbursed for the labor and material costs expended during its unsuccessful attempt to line two tanks with the rubber supplied by the defendant. The plaintiff's theories of recovery are breach of implied warranty of merchantability, and breach of implied warranty for a particular purpose. The defendant has counterclaimed for the purchase price of certain of the rubber shipped to Larry Goad and Company, for which the plaintiff admittedly has not paid.

This case was tried to the court sitting without a jury. The court having considered the pleadings, the testimony of the witnesses, the documents in evidence and the stipulations of the parties, and being fully advised in the premises, hereby makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law, as required by Rule 52 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. Plaintiff, Larry Goad and Company (hereinafter "Goad"), is a Missouri corporation with its principal place of business in St. Louis County, Missouri.

2. Defendant, Lordstown Rubber Company (hereinafter "Lordstown"), is an Ohio Corporation with its principal place of business in Ohio.

*585 3. The matter in controversy herein exceeds the sum of $10,000 exclusive of interest and costs, and is between citizens of different states. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332.

4. Lordstown is in the business of selling rubber lining material for use in lining vessels.

5. Goad purchased Lordstown's rubber for use in lining two tanks for Monsanto Company. Plaintiff had two separate contracts with Monsanto, one a contract for $37,800 to rubber line a 25 foot closed tank, and the other a contract for $69,700 to line an open 40 foot tank. Both tanks were located at the Krummerich Plant in Sauget, Illinois.

6. At the time of the sale of this rubber, Lordstown was notified and knew of the particular purpose for which Goad was purchasing its rubber, and warranted to Goad that its rubber was of merchantable quality and fit for Goad's purpose.

7. During 1981, Lordstown sold and delivered to Goad various rubber and related products at prices which Goad agreed to pay. The following is an accurate listing of such products and prices:

                                     DATE       AMT.OF
INVOICE NO.       DESCRIPTION       SHIPPED    INVOICE
TL-810-2          1/4" LR-662-      7/15/81    $ 2,833.92
                  1VA, 6 rolls
TL-849            LR-192-3C, 27     7/22/81     11,340.00
                  rolls + 1 roll
TL-834            LR-192-3C, 18     7/31/81      8,070.00
                  rolls, 3,228
                  Sq. Ft.
TL-834            1/4" LR-561-      7/31/81        482.00
                  1VA, 1 roll
TL-839            3/16" LR-662-     8/10/81        964.80
                  1VA, 2 rolls
TL-839            3/16" LR-662-     8/10/81        522.00
                  2VA, 1 roll
TL-894            3/16" LR-662-     9/16/81      6,615.00
                  1VA, 15 rolls
TL-894            LR-192-3C, 17     9/16/81      7,650.00
                  rolls
TL-953            3/16" LR-662-    11/13/81        482.40
                  1VA, 1 roll

8. The total charge for this material was $38,960.52, of which Goad has paid $11,900.52, leaving a balance of $27,060.00 in unpaid invoices.

9. In addition to the above materials, Lordstown shipped Goad 42 rolls of rubber containing 7,630 square feet of LR-192-3C rubber lining stock on October 28, 1981; October 31, 1981 and November 11, 1981. The invoices accompanying said shipments bore the notation "N/C" (no charge).

10. On July 13, 1981 Goad began preparing the first of the two tanks, the 25 foot diameter tank, for lining.

11. After Goad sandblasted, primed and glued the tank, a strike resulted in a two week delay in work, prior to the application of the rubber lining.

12. On August 25, 1981, after Goad completed the lining, Monsanto's inspector, Mr. Ellerbush rejected the lining of the 25 foot tank and found it unacceptable. The evidence established that the problems were caused by poor application procedures, rather than any blemished or defective rubber. Therefore, the plaintiff agreed to redo the tank at its own expense at this time. Goad then called Lordstown and ordered 17 more rolls of LR-192-3C rubber, at its own cost, for relining the small tank. The rubber was shipped on September 16, 1981. Between August 25, 1981 and October 6, 1981, Goad removed the rubber from the small tank except from the roof, and repeated the sandblasting and priming of the tank. Goad was ready to begin to reline the 25 foot tank on October 6, 1981.

13. On October 6, 1981 Goad began to reline the first tank. During the commencement of the relining, Goad's employees questioned the quality of the lining material and called their supervisor, Mr. Ficker, so that they might determine how to proceed. Their supervisor advised them to shut down the job until the questions concerning the rubber were resolved.

14. On October 8, 1981, Mr. Ficker telephoned Lordstown's sales representative, Mr. Neidy, to advise him that the rubber lining material was of questionable quality. On October 12, 1981 Mr. Neidy came to St. Louis for the purpose of inspecting samples of the rubber at the Goad plant and Monsanto job site. Mr. Neidy took two samples of rubber with him for the purpose of testing, *586 and advised Goad to pick out the best appearing rubber and use it for the relining on the small tank.

15. Pursuant to these instructions, Goad continued to reline the first tank through October 21, 1981. On October 22, Monsanto again rejected the lining as being unacceptable. At this time, Goad returned all the existing stock of the suspect rubber to Lordstown for testing.

16. On October 28, 1981 Lordstown shipped Goad 15 rolls of replacement rubber, another 15 rolls were shipped on October 30, 1981. The final 12 rolls of the replacement rubber were shipped by Lordstown to Goad on November 11, 1981. The quality of the replacement rubber was never questioned.

17. On November 9, 1981 Goad returned the remaining stocks of the initial shipment of rubber to Lordstown. The plaintiff had ordered originally 83 rolls of rubber. 20 rolls were used in the first lining of the tank and were paid for by Goad. The remaining rolls were returned to Lordstown.

18. Between October 22, 1981 and November 23, 1981 Goad again restripped, reprimed and reglued the small tank. On November 23, 1981 Goad was ready to begin to line the tank. However, on this date Monsanto ordered Goad to stop its work on the small tank.

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560 F. Supp. 583, 36 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/larry-goad-and-co-v-lordstown-rubber-co-moed-1983.