Sauers v. Tibbs

363 N.E.2d 444, 48 Ill. App. 3d 805, 6 Ill. Dec. 762, 22 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 363, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 2663
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 23, 1977
Docket13652
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 363 N.E.2d 444 (Sauers v. Tibbs) 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
Sauers v. Tibbs, 363 N.E.2d 444, 48 Ill. App. 3d 805, 6 Ill. Dec. 762, 22 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 363, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 2663 (Ill. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE CRAVEN

delivered the opinion of the court:

On October 19, 1973, plaintiff brought an action based on breach of fitness for a particular purpose (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 26, par. 2 — 315) arising out of his purchase of a mobile home manufactured by defendant Gerring Industries, Inc., and sold to the plaintiff by defendant Bruce Tibbs, a dealer in mobile homes. The count against Gerring Industries was dismissed at the close of plaintiff’s case and the court, after a bench trial, entered judgment for plaintiff against defendant Tibbs and awarded plaintiff *10,185 (purchase price) plus consequential damages of *2686.23 and costs.

The mobile home, a new 1973 “Holly Park,” was delivered by the manufacturer to the dealer on May 9, 1973. In the next couple of days it was set up by the dealer and a slide-out room addition was installed. The installation of the slide-out room leaves a large hole in the exterior wall for better than one-half day before the slide-out is secured and caulked making a sealed tight enclosure. Also, during the setup procedure, the doors and windows of the trailer are open for nearly a day. Both defendant Tibbs and his wife, who also works in the business, testified that they saw no bugs in the mobile home upon an inspection made the day it arrived from the manufacturer.

Plaintiff, and his wife, who was then his fiance, purchased the mobile home on May 12,1973. They testified that on that same day they were in the home with Mrs. Tibbs and that they observed flying insects which Mrs. Tibbs informed them were gnats.

During the week following May 12, plaintiff and his fiance visited the mobile home on several occasions, doing some cleaning and getting the home ready to move into on May 19, their wedding day. They testified that they saw bugs in the trailer between May 12 and May 19. Plaintiff’s wife testified that she saw all kinds of insects “flying around” on May 19 and that these bugs were present in the home in slightly increasing numbers from the time they moved in until the day they left for their honeymoon. Plaintiff also testified that the bugs were present in the home from May 12 through June 29 and that their numbers increased during that period.

From June 29 to July 10, the Sauers’ were on their honeymoon and the mobile home was closed. Upon their return on July 10, plaintiff and his wife found their trailer full of bugs “hatched all over the trailer” and “packed on the floor.” After July 10, they observed bugs in the bedroom walls behind the paneling, in the insulation underneath the trailer, in the cabinets, the tub, on the curtains, and all over their home.

At some point plaintiff contacted Paul Baietto’s pest control company, “Quik-Kill.” Mr. Baietto identified the insects infesting the trailer as “confused grain beetles.” The plaintiff signed a one-year contract for spraying services with Quik-Kill on July 18,1973. Quik-Kill made several treatments which required plaintiff and his wife to vacate the trailer for 24 hours and plaintiff and his wife both testified , that these efforts were unsuccessful in eradicating the insects. On September 5, plaintiff and his wife moved out of the trailer because, according to their testimony, the bugs were too much of a nuisance and made living conditions impossible. They resided with his parents from September 5,1973, until May of 1974, when they moved into an apartment.

Plaintiff admitted bringing cereal, bread and flour into the trailer on May 19, 1973. In his deposition, he admitted that he did nothing to exterminate the bugs from the time he moved in until a week to ten days after returning from the honeymoon. On direct examination, plaintiff changed his story and testified that he contacted Tibbs concerning the bugs sometime in June. He further testified that Quik-Kill made four treatments and that these had no effect on the bug population.

Garry Davies, plaintiff’s cousin, testified that he often visited plaintiff and his wife at their trailer during the summer of 1973. He first visited them during the last week in May and on that occasion saw hundreds of small, reddish-brown bugs present. He recalled that the bugs were present every time he visited, mostly in the bedroom and living room, and that the numbers increased with each visit. On one occasion, in June of 1973, he observed hundreds of bugs in the insulation in the floor registers. Although the bugs he observed were not flying on his first visit, he testified they were flying in June and were the same bugs he had observed on his first visit.

Defendant’s witnesses included Stevenson Moore IH, a University of Illinois entomologist, whose testimony, by evidence deposition, was admitted. Dr. Moore indicated his familiarity with insects known as “confused flour beetles” and had never heard of “confused grain beetles.” He testified that confused flour beetles are one-sixth of an inch long, reddish-brown in color and feed only on grain products. They are not attracted to wood, metal or plastic products. They lay their eggs in grain-based foods and have a six-week cycle including the egg, larva and pupa stages before reaching adulthood. In answer to a hypothetical question, Dr. Moore indicated that these beetles would not be attracted to a mobile home until food or attractive items were inside it. He also noted that these beetles do not fly, but are closely related to a similar looking insect, the red flour beetle, which does fly and cannot be distinguished without the aid of a magnifying glass. In his opinion, the “confused flour beetles” could be successfully exterminated professionally by various methods “all the way to the ultimate of tarping over this material and using fumigating material which would give 99.9 kill of all stages, which is véry costly and which very few exterminating companies have the expertise * * * or the equipment to do * *

Defendant Tibbs testified that plaintiffs trailer was constructed of wood, plastic and metal products. During the setup of the plaintiff’s trailer prior to the sale, he observed the inner walls of the unit and saw no insects or eggs in the walls or insulation. In addition, he visited plaintiffs trailer a day or so after plaintiff took possession and fixed a water leak and scratch on the wall. At that time, defendant testified, plaintiff made no complaint about bugs and defendant saw no bugs. Tibbs then stated that plaintiff made no complaint about insects until after returning from the honeymoon. When plaintiff complained to the defendant about them, defendant went to plaintiff’s trailer where he says he saw possibly a dozen bugs.

Wilma Tibbs testified that she inspected the trailer sold to plaintiff when it arrived from the manufacturer on May 9,1973, and saw no insects in it at that time. She admitted being present in the home with plaintiff and his wife on May 12, but denied that she had mentioned anything to them about insects. Her recollection was that plaintiff never complained of insects until one week after returning from the honeymoon. She then visited their trailer, observed bugs flying and crawling, mistook them for gnats and recommended that they spray with “Raid.” Plaintiff called her the following day to complain and she recommended that he call a professional exterminator. Plaintiffs first complaint concerning the bugs was registered about three weeks after he purchased the trailer, the first week he was back from the honeymoon.

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363 N.E.2d 444, 48 Ill. App. 3d 805, 6 Ill. Dec. 762, 22 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 363, 1977 Ill. App. LEXIS 2663, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sauers-v-tibbs-illappct-1977.