Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. Ferranti-Packard Transformers, Inc.

157 Misc. 2d 606, 22 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 715, 597 N.Y.S.2d 884, 1993 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 154
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 19, 1993
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 157 Misc. 2d 606 (Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. Ferranti-Packard Transformers, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. Ferranti-Packard Transformers, Inc., 157 Misc. 2d 606, 22 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 715, 597 N.Y.S.2d 884, 1993 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 154 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1993).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Joseph Gerace, J.

FACTS

On March 24, 1986, plaintiff purchased 14 transformers from defendant Ferranti-Packard and installed them in various locations in several public and business office buildings.

Three years later (July 31, 1989) an electrical fire occurred in one of the transformers located in the New York Telephone Building, causing extensive property damage.

On January 2, 1991, 18 months after the New York Telephone fire, a second transformer failed and caught fire in the Rath County Office Building in Buffalo, causing damage to an adjacent transformer as well.

None of the remaining 11 transformers was involved in or affected by the two fires. None had ever malfunctioned. After investigation, plaintiff determined these transformers were defective in the same way as those which caused the two fires.

Plaintiff thereupon replaced these transformers because in its judgment they presented a high, dangerous risk to significant numbers of people and property.

On July 29, 1992, six years after purchase, plaintiff commenced suit for the replacement costs for all 14 transformers, including the functioning 11, alleging grounds of negligence, strict products liability, and breach of warranty.

The Ferranti-Packard defendants moved to dismiss the breach of warranty claim on the ground the warranty was only for two years and had expired prior to the fires. They also moved to dismiss the causes of action seeking damages in the form of repair and replacement costs of the 11 functioning transformers, but have not moved against the causes of action for direct damages caused by two fires.

[609]*609Defendant Magnetek, Inc., has moved to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action. Defendant May & Christie, GMBH, manufacturer of component transformer parts, joins in the Ferranti-Packard motion.

THE WARRANTY ACTION

Defendants contend plaintiffs warranty action is untimely because it was commenced after expiration of its two-year warranty.

Plaintiff relies on UCC 2-725 (2) which provides a four-year Statute of Limitations "except that where a warranty explicitly extends to future performance of the goods and discovery of the breach must await the time of such performance the cause of action accrues when the breach is or should have been discovered.”

The UCC four-year warranty may be limited by agreement of parties. It was expressly limited to two years in this case by the warranty of Ferranti-Packard that it "agrees to replace or repair any transformer failing during normal and proper use within two (2) years of the date of placing in service which shows defects of material or workmanship”.

The UCC 2-725 (2) exception applies only when future performance is warranted. The Ferranti-Packard warranty was only a repair and replacement warranty that did not extend to future performance.

The manufacturer did not warrant future performance. Therefore, the warranty action is untimely whether the UCC four-year limitation or the contractual two-year limit is applied.

The two cases cited by plaintiff, Mittasch v Seal Lock Burial Vault (42 AD2d 573) and Parzek v New England Log Homes (92 AD2d 954), are not applicable because those manufacturers specifically warranted future performance.

Numerous cases have held warranty claims similar to the instant case as untimely. (Heller v U. S. Suzuki Motors Corp., 64 NY2d 407; Shapiro v Long Is. Light. Co., 71 AD2d 671; Queensbury Union Free School Dist. v Walter Corp., 101 AD2d 992, affd 64 NY2d 964; Lewis v Axinn, 100 AD2d 617; Rissew v Yamaha Motor Co., 129 AD2d 94; Arell’s Fine Jewelers v Honeywell, Inc., 170 AD2d 1013.)

These cases denied claims made after the warranty period had expired on the grounds that a repair and replacement [610]*610warranty is a promise to repair and replace during the warranty period only. It is not a warranty that the goods will never fail. It does not extend the basic four-year warranty or any shorter time frame agreed to by the parties.

In the instant case, all the transformers functioned as expected by all parties during the two-year warranty period.

The courts have held the proper approach for knowledgeable parties in commercial transactions is to bargain for the protection they seek. Here, in its invitation to bid, the plaintiff could have insisted on a longer, stronger warranty.

Niagara Mohawk could have required a longer warranty period, stronger warranty language, or an extended warranty for future performance. It did not do so.

Niagara Mohawk cannot expect the court to provide the warranty it neglected to insist upon in the bidding process.

THE UNDAMAGED TRANSFORMERS

The Ferranti-Packard defendants claim that the complaint fails to state a cause of action as to the 11 undamaged transformers. In the negligence and products liability counts plaintiff alleges it had to replace these items: "to avoid the risk of any further damage to property and danger to persons, plaintiff was compelled to remove and replace the remaining network transformers * * * [as] unreasonably dangerous and defective.”

The cases cited by the parties are not exactly on point. Replacement in those cases was limited to replacement of products that were damaged or which had failed because of defects.

Moreover, the products in those cases involved defective cranes, walls and roofs which did not present a risk of harm as potentially massive and dangerous as the electrical transformers in this case.

Current case law distinguishes between products which fail to live up to expectations and products that are dangerously defective. The courts have permitted tort claims sued within three years of product failure or damage in cases involving dangerously defective products. (Schiavone Constr. Co. v Elgood Mayo Corp., 81 AD2d 221, revd 56 NY2d 667.)

Plaintiff contends the tort claim as to the undamaged transformers is appropriate as well as timely because it was brought within three years of the two fires, citing St. Mary’s [611]*611Protectress Ukranian Autocephalous Orthodox Church v Challenger Elec. Equip. Corp. (175 AD2d 589).

In that case, the court held the Statute of Limitations started to run when a hall was destroyed by a fire sparked by a defective heater. The case is not applicable here because it did not involve a damage claim for replacement of a functioning but potentially defective heater in another location.

To hold that a cause of action and the Statute of Limitations is triggered for the 11 undamaged, functioning transformers upon the malfunction and damage to three transformers at other locations would strain logic.

DAMAGES

There must be more than economic damages. There is no claim in tort solely for economic loss. (Arell’s Fine Jewelers v Honeywell, Inc., supra; Queensbury Union Free School Dist. v Walter Corp., supra; Hemming v Certainteed Corp., 97 AD2d 976; Ralston Purina Co. v McKee & Co., 158 AD2d 969; Antel Oldsmobile-Cadillac v Sirus Leasing Co., 101 AD2d 688; Cayuga Harvester v Allis-Chalmers Corp., 95 AD2d 5.)

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Related

Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. v. Ferranti-Packard Transformers, Inc.
201 A.D.2d 902 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
157 Misc. 2d 606, 22 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 715, 597 N.Y.S.2d 884, 1993 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 154, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/niagara-mohawk-power-corp-v-ferranti-packard-transformers-inc-nysupct-1993.