Prince v. Paretti Pontiac Co.

262 So. 2d 826, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 5707
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 16, 1972
DocketNo. 4997
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 262 So. 2d 826 (Prince v. Paretti Pontiac Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Prince v. Paretti Pontiac Co., 262 So. 2d 826, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 5707 (La. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinions

.GULOTTA, Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment dismissing plaintiff’s suit in redhibition for rescission of the sale and return of the purchase price of a new 1970 Pontiac Le-[827]*827mans automobile purchased from defendant. Plaintiff also seeks damages in addition to rescission. At the outset, we deem it advisable to make disposition of a motion for dismissal of the appeal filed herein on behalf of General Motors.

In this connection, plaintiff filed the original petition in this suit against the dealer, Paretti Pontiac Company, Incorporated, for rescission and defendant filed a third-party demand against the manufacturer, General Motors Corporation. Plaintiff thereafter filed a separate proceeding against General Motors for rescission of the sale of the same car. General Motors excepted and answered averring that it did not sell the automobile to plaintiff, that no redhibitory vices existed and that it did not breach any warranty unto plaintiff. The two suits were consolidated for trial. The trial judge dismissed plaintiff’s suit against Paretti, as well as the third-party demand against General Motors, and also plaintiff’s suit against General Motors. Paretti did not appeal the dismissal of its third-party demand, and plaintiff did not appeal the judgment dismissing General Motors. Plaintiff now argues that his appeal in one of two consolidated cases constitutes an appeal in both cases. We do not agree. The court ordered the cases consolidated for trial pursuant to LSA-C.C.P. art. 1561, but separate judgments were rendered and separate appeals must be perfected. Accordingly, the motion to dismiss plaintiff’s appeal insofar as it is directed against General Motors is granted. General Motors is not a party to this appeal and is not before us.

In dismissing plaintiff’s action, the trial judge concluded that the defects in the automobile of which plaintiff complains were minor, repairable and did not render the auto so imperfect that it could not be used for the purpose intended.

The issue before us is whether the defects of which plaintiff complains are such as to support an action in redhibition.

The facts are that plaintiff and his wife purchased the car from defendant on or about July 3, 1970, through its salesman, Terry Sarrazin. When Prince and his wife returned to accept delivery the following day after the car was serviced by defendant, Prince noticed a small scratch on the trunk. Sarrazin stated that within one to three weeks later plaintiff called him about work to be done on the car, and he told plaintiff to bring the car in and Paretti would take care of servicing it. Sarrazin indicated that he had received no complaints from plaintiff and thought plaintiff was to come in only for the car to be serviced.

On July 21, 1970, Prince and his wife drove into the driveway at Paretti, parked, blocked the entrance and removed the keys. He admitted that he intentionally parked the car across the driveway and that he had not returned to the dealership subsequent to delivery of the car until the above incident. At this time, he presented a list of 13 items or complaints with the car.1 Discussion with Joseph Marrero, service manager of Paretti, was unsatisfactory, according to Marrero, because of the anger and uncooperative attitude of the plaintiff. [828]*828Marrero testified that plaintiff threw the list toward the floor and toward Marrero, then grabbed the door and “stormed out of the office”. He then proceeded to Joe Paretti’s office and handed him a letter with the same list of items attached. According to plaintiff, he and his wife then went to the car and drove away.

It was plaintiff’s contention that he returned to Paretti Pontiac in order to get his money back for the car and to return the car. However, plaintiff made contradictory statements in this regard, and his actions indicated he desired repairs on this occasion. Furthermore, he did not leave the car with defendant. Instead, he made complaints to the National Customers Relations Department of Pontiac Motors, Office of the General Manager, about his car and the treatment Paretti Pontiac gave him.

In response and as a result of a call from James B. Nichols, Area Parts and Service Manager of Pontiac Motor Division, plaintiff and his wife met with Nichols at Paretti on July 27, 1970, to discuss the difficulties. At this time, Nichols advised plaintiff the warranty would cover the problems. However, according to Nichols, the car was not left for service because of plaintiff’s choice not to do so and not because of Paretti’s indication that it would not correct the problems.

Nichols again contacted plaintiff through Mrs. Prince to arrange to meet at a different dealership, i. e., Pattison Pontiac, to help resolve the problems. On August 6, 1970, plaintiff and his wife met with Nichols, Jay D. Smith, also a representative of Pontiac Motor Division and Carl May-eaux who was Service Manager at Patti-son. Nichols road tested the car and let plaintiff point out all items of concern. After a discussion of some of the problems involving the transmission and the speedometer, according to Nichols, it was understood plaintiff would return to Pattison for all corrections to be made the following Monday. Obviously, this was the intent of the parties in view of a letter plaintiff mailed that same day to R. B. Young,2 the Supervisor of Customer Relations of Pontiac Motor Division. Plaintiff again did not return the automobile for repairs, irrespective of the agreement. Nichols made other efforts to contact plaintiff on August 18 and 19 and talked to his wife, but plaintiff did not return the calls.

Plaintiff’s arbitrary and uncooperative behavior is further reflected by his correspondence with Jerrold Wagner, Customers Relations Manager, Pontiac Motor Division. A letter dated August 20, 1970, from Wagner to plaintiff stated plaintiff had failed to make his car available to Nichols on August 17 as agreed, and Nichols had even offered to tow the car in for plaintiff if it was inoperable. The letter further stated:

“ * * * We fully intend to make any and all corrections as agreed upon by you and Mrs. Prince in your meeting with Mr. Nichols on August 6, 1970. Naturally, it is imperative that the vehicle be made available to accomplish this end.”

Subsequent communications between Prince and Wagner show Pattison’s willingness to get the automobile and to repair it.

Prince further admitted that he did not give Paretti or any agency an opportunity to properly inspect and repair the car. He told of his failure to bring in the car despite his agreement with Nichols. The basic disagreement according to plaintiff was the nature and extent of the transmission problem.

Appellant seeks to invoke the application of the article of the Civil Code on redhibition.

[829]*829LSA-C.C. art. 2520 states:

“Redhibition is the avoidance of a sale on account of some vice or defect in the thing sold, which renders it either absolutely useless, or its use so inconvenient and imperfect, that it must be supposed that the buyer would not have purchased it, had he known of the vice.”

The burden of proof in cases of red-hibition rests upon the buyer to establish the defect and that such vice rendered the thing useless or its use so inconvenient and imperfect that it must be supposed he would not have purchased the goods had he known of its vices. See: Charter Company v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

US Fire Ins. Co. v. Swann
424 So. 2d 240 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1982)
U. S. Fire Insurance v. Swann
411 So. 2d 1173 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1982)
Dunlap v. Chrysler Motors Corp.
299 So. 2d 495 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1974)
Prince v. Paretti Pontiac Company, Inc.
281 So. 2d 112 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1973)
Scully v. Campo
270 So. 2d 267 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
262 So. 2d 826, 1972 La. App. LEXIS 5707, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/prince-v-paretti-pontiac-co-lactapp-1972.