Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Sonic Development Corp.

546 F. Supp. 533, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14550
CourtDistrict Court, D. Kansas
DecidedSeptember 10, 1982
DocketCiv. A. 81-2230
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 546 F. Supp. 533 (Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Sonic Development Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp. v. Sonic Development Corp., 546 F. Supp. 533, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14550 (D. Kan. 1982).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

SAFFELS, District Judge.

This matter comes before the Court on separate motions by three of the defendants *536 for summary judgment and a motion by one defendant to compel discovery and for costs. Plaintiff’s cause of action arises from the breakdown of three air compressors used in plaintiff’s pollution control system at its Kansas City, Kansas production plant. Plaintiff brings suit against the manufacturer of the air compressors and various parties who selected the particular type of air compressors used, installed them and maintained them. The court will discuss each defendant’s motion separately.

I

SONIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT

Sonic Development Corporation [hereinafter Sonic] is the party who sold the air compressors to plaintiff. On June 30, 1978, plaintiff requested a quote from Sonic on a gas cooling system for plaintiff’s plant. On July 6, 1978, Sonic replied with a proposal for the delivery of a SoniCool Evaporative Gas Cooling System to meet plaintiff’s specifications. The reverse side of the Sonic proposal contains the following language:

“WARRANTY. The Company warrants that all materials and/or workmanship supplied hereunder will be of good quality. The obligation of the Company under this warranty shall be limited to replacing any materials furnished hereunder established to be of defective quality within a period of one year from the time of installation thereof and the Company’s liability under this warranty shall not extend beyond such replacement. Purchaser shall give prompt and written notice to the Company of any observed defects.
“THE FOREGOING WARRANTY IS IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER WARRANTIES EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES AND MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. In no event shall the Company be liable for prospective profits or any incidental, consequential or special damages arising from the use of its products even if the Company had been advised of the possibility of such damages. No person employed or affiliated with the Company is authorized to assume for the Company any other liability other than the liabilities provided for hereunder. . . . All equipment and material not manufactured by the Company but supplied hereunder shall receive only such warranty, if any, as given by the manufacturer thereof.”

Plaintiff responded to Sonic’s proposal with a purchase order dated July 20, 1978. Paragraph two (2) on the reverse side of the purchase order contains the following language:

“The Seller expressly warrants that all articles ordered to specifications will conform thereto and to the drawings, samples or other descriptions furnished or adopted by Buyer and that all articles will be merchantable, of good material and workmanship and free from defect.”

There are no warranty disclaimer provisions in plaintiff’s form, nor are there any limitation-of-action provisions.

At the bottom of the front side of plaintiff’s form is a “Vendor Acknowledgment” section, which contains the following statement:

“By acceptance of this order or revision, seller agrees to furnish materials in accordance with all instructions shown on the face and reverse side of order and revision.”

Mr. R.M. Adams of Sonic signed the “Vendor Acknowledgment” on behalf of Sonic on July 26, 1978.

Paragraph one (1) on the reverse side of the form states, in pertinent part, as follows:

“This purchase order constitutes Buyer’s offer to Seller, and becomes a binding contract on the terms set forth herein when accepted by Seller either by acknowledgment or the commencement of performance hereof. . .. ”

The original specifications were altered by agreement of the parties to allow the *537 use of three Quincy air compressors in the gas cooling system. The three Quincy compressors were put into service in April, 1979.

The Quincy air compressors were installed by Air Engineering, Inc., also a defendant in this lawsuit. Sonic claims that Air Engineering performed the entire installation; plaintiff claims that Air Engineering’s responsibilities related only to the air compressors, and not to the rest of the cooling system.

About seven months later, on October 29, 1979, all three air compressors failed. Plaintiff secured some portable air compressors, and immediately notified Air Engineering about the compressor failure. Plaintiff contends that Sonic represented that Air Engineering was Sonic’s agent with respect to the Quincy air compressors. Sonic denies this.

On November 17, 1980, plaintiff wrote a letter to Sonic about the failure of the air compressors.

Sonic first moves for summary judgment on the ground that plaintiff failed to notify Sonic of any alleged defects in the air compressors until more than one year after the compressors had failed. Sonic contends that the compressors failed in October, 1979, but Sonic was not notified of the failure until November, 1980.

K.S.A. 84-2-607(3)(a) provides that a “buyer must within a reasonable time after he discovers or should have discovered a breach [notify] the seller of the breach or be barred from any remedy.”

The court cannot decide questions of fact on a motion for summary judgment. Barber v. General Electric Co., 648 F.2d 1272, 1276 (10th Cir. 1981). We are of the opinion that there exists a question of fact here as to whether or not Air Engineering was the agent of Sonic for purposes of receiving notice of defects in the Quincy air compressors. It is undisputed that plaintiff notified Air Engineering immediately after the air compressors failed.

There is also a question of fact as to whether or not plaintiff’s notice to Sonic came “within a reasonable time” after the failure of the air compressors. The compressors failed on October 29, 1979, and plaintiff notified Sonic, at the very latest, on November 17, 1980. Viewed in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, we think that this evidence presents an issue of fact upon which reasonable minds might differ. Summary judgment is therefore not appropriate. Williams v. Borden, Inc., 637 F.2d 731, 738 (10th Cir. 1981).

Sonic next moves for summary judgment on the grounds that according to the contract between the parties, plaintiff’s sole remedy is against the manufacturer of the defective air compressors, Quincy Compressor Division, a division of Colt Industries Operating Corporation [hereinafter Quincy].

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Bluebook (online)
546 F. Supp. 533, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14550, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/owens-corning-fiberglas-corp-v-sonic-development-corp-ksd-1982.