Saladino v. Team Chevrolet, Inc.

611 N.E.2d 583, 242 Ill. App. 3d 735, 183 Ill. Dec. 320, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 479
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 2, 1993
Docket2-92-0578
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 611 N.E.2d 583 (Saladino v. Team Chevrolet, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Saladino v. Team Chevrolet, Inc., 611 N.E.2d 583, 242 Ill. App. 3d 735, 183 Ill. Dec. 320, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 479 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

JUSTICE QUETSCH

delivered the opinion of the court:

Plaintiffs, Joseph and Connie Saladino, brought suit against defendants, Team Chevrolet, Inc. (Team Chevrolet), Ryan Warranty Services, Inc. (Ryan), and General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), for breach of express warranty and breach of implied warranty under the Magnuson-Moss Act (15 U.S.C.A. §2301 et seq. (West 1982)), common-law fraud, and fraud and deceptive practices under the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act (111. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 121V2, par. 261 et seq.). Plaintiffs appeal from the trial court order granting summary judgment in favor of defendant Ryan Warranty Services. We affirm.

On August 28, 1989, plaintiffs visited Team Chevrolet’s used car lot to examine a used 1979 Chevrolet Corvette. Accompanied by Ed Maniurka, one of Team Chevrolet’s used car salesmen, they drove the car to the auto shop, where Joseph Saladino is employed, to examine it. Joe looked under the hood and put the car up on the rack, at which time he discovered an oil leak. When Joe showed Ed Maniurka the leak, Ed stated, “[T]here’s a warranty that will cover that.” He informed Mr. and Mrs. Saladino that a “good one” would cost $500 extra.

They returned to Ed’s office at Team Chevrolet where Ed showed Joe and Connie (the Saladinos) a brochure entitled, “Extended Used Car Protection Select Car Coverage, Administered by: Ryan Warranty Services, Inc.” After reaching an agreement as to the purchase price of the vehicle, Jim Foley, another salesman, presented a form to Joe and Connie entitled, “Used Vehicle Mechanical Repair Agreement.”

The name “Ryan Warranty Services, Inc.,” appeared at the top of the form. Joseph Saladino was listed as the customer, Team Chevrolet was listed as the dealer, and the coverage under the agreement was to be for 12 months from the agreement date or when 12,000 additional miles were registered on the odometer, whichever occurred first. The agreement date was listed as August 28, 1989. The odometer reading was listed as 36,706 miles. The agreement provided space for the signatures of the customer and the dealer’s representative. Joseph Saladino signed the agreement as customer, and J. Foley signed as dealer’s representative.

The agreement states: “This form describes the protection you will have under your Mechanical Repair Agreement. In return for payment by you of the Agreement Charge and subject to all the terms of this Agreement, we agree with you as follows ***.” (Emphasis in original.) The terms “you” and “your” are defined as meaning the customer. The terms “we,” “us,” or “our” are defined as meaning the dealer issuing the agreement. The agreement sets forth the specific parts covered. It excludes costs covered by any warranty of the manufacturer, State-required dealer warranty or repairer’s guarantee.

Plaintiffs allege Jim Foley told them the agreement was a written warranty. Plaintiffs claim they would not have purchased the car without a warranty.

Subsequent to purchase, plaintiffs experienced numerous problems with the automobile. A few weeks after the purchase, Joe called Jim Foley to tell him that he wanted to get some of the problems repaired. Plaintiffs allege Jim Foley told them they would have to wait until they received the paper work in the mail from the warranty company. Late in October 1989, Joe informed Jim Foley that he had not yet received the paper work. Jim Foley allegedly responded that plaintiffs should “give it a while longer, you should be getting something in the mail.”

Plaintiffs claim they received a letter from Ryan Warranty Services toward the end of December 1989. That letter states:

“Ryan Warranty Services, Inc. is the administrator for certain mechanical repair agreements sold by Team Chevrolet, Inc. Please be advised that the above referenced agreement was not accepted. The agreement is not eligible for coverage because coverage months/miles are not valid based on vehicle year and/ or odometer mileage.
Since your dealership may be able to resolve this matter, we would suggest you contact them as soon as possible.
We appreciate your business and thank you for your cooperation.”

After receiving this letter, Connie contacted Jim Foley. He informed her there was no warranty on the car. Connie informed Joe of her conversation with Jim Foley. Joe then called Jim to ask why there was no warranty. Jim informed Joe that the car was too old. Joe asked if he was going to get a refund. Jim responded that Joe would not get a refund, but to “keep making the bigger payments and you’ll have the car paid off sooner.” Joe stated in his deposition that he believed this meant they would credit his account with GMAC so that he would have the car paid off sooner.

GMAC credited plaintiffs’ account $699.35 including a credit for the finance charge plaintiffs would have paid on the $500 service contract. Plaintiffs subsequently received a new payment booklet with reduced monthly payments. Plaintiffs ceased making payments to GMAC.

Plaintiffs filed suit against Team Chevrolet, Ryan Warranty Services and GMAC. Ryan filed a motion for summary judgment on November 2, 1991. Subsequently, plaintiffs filed a motion to compel requesting that Michael McCay, legal liaison for Ryan, be compelled to answer certain questions posed to him by plaintiffs’ attorney during his discovery deposition.

At the hearing on Ryan’s motion for summary judgment, plaintiffs argued summary judgment was not appropriate because there were a number of factual disputes in the case. Plaintiffs asserted there was a dispute over whether the agreement was a warranty and whether there was a rescission. Plaintiffs’ attorney stated:

“So, our position is that summary judgment isn’t appropriate for those reasons, as well as the fact that discovery is ongoing; that we have had depositions; that answers to questions were— were denied us based on the advice of counsel. So not only do we have depositions out there that they want to do, but the depositions that we have done, there have been some questions that we have asked that were not answered.”

After hearing argument, the court found that the document submitted was a repair contract, not a warranty, and that although representations were made to plaintiffs that the document was a warranty, those representations were not made by employees of Ryan. The court concluded, as a matter of law, there was no breach of express or implied warranty or fraud as to Ryan and dismissed the action against Ryan with prejudice. In its order, the trial court found there was no just reason to delay the enforcement of its order pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 304(a) (134 111. 2d R. 304(a)). Plaintiffs timely appeal.

As a preliminary matter, we question the propriety of the use of a motion for summary judgment under the circumstances of this case. A motion for summary judgment is to be used when the pleader “ ‘assumes that a cause of action has been stated and proceeds to determine whether there are any material issues of fact to be tried.’ ” (Delgatto v. Brandon Associates, Ltd. (1989), 131 Ill. 2d 183, 190, quoting Janes v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
611 N.E.2d 583, 242 Ill. App. 3d 735, 183 Ill. Dec. 320, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 479, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/saladino-v-team-chevrolet-inc-illappct-1993.