Tassara v. Payne Co.

337 So. 2d 610, 1976 La. App. LEXIS 3546
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 2, 1976
DocketNo. 7383
StatusPublished

This text of 337 So. 2d 610 (Tassara v. Payne 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
Tassara v. Payne Co., 337 So. 2d 610, 1976 La. App. LEXIS 3546 (La. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

SAMUEL, Judge.

Plaintiff filed this suit against three defendants, The Payne Company, James W. Knobloch, d/b/a Help!!! Service Company, and Charles T. Genovese, d/b/a Buddy’s Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration, for damages allegedly arising from redhibi-tory defects and breach of contract involving the repair and restoration of plaintiff’s central air conditioning system.

After a trial on the merits, there was judgment in favor of plaintiff and against only Genovese in the sum of $2,220.60. The judgment dismisses the suit against the other two defendants. Genovese has appealed. Plaintiff has answered the appeal seeking an increased award of $5,489.76.

On April 30, 1965 plaintiff had a three-ton Chrysler central air conditioning and heating system installed in his residence for the sum of $1,332. For approximately seven years no service or maintenance work was performed on the system. Some time in April, 1972 it appears a leak had developed in either the liquid or suction line between the house and the compressor-condenser unit outside. A friend unsuccessfully attempted to solder the line. In May, 1972 appellant came to plaintiff’s home and remedied that situation.

In April, 1973, plaintiff again called appellant because the air conditioning system was not performing adequately. After a discussion of the problem, appellant installed a three-ton Payne compressor-condenser unit on the slab outside plaintiff’s home to replace the then improperly functioning three-ton Chrysler unit. Defendant charged plaintiff $597.60 for the new unit and his services. In addition, plaintiff paid defendant the sum of $30 for a “Service Contract”. This $30 service contract forms the basis for most of their dispute.

The next week plaintiff again called appellant because water was leaking down the living room walls. Appellant found the emergency drain in the attic had been displaced by someone. He remedied that situation and he acknowledges he could have dislodged the emergency drain himself. Approximately ten days after appellant’s installation, the system’s main drain became clogged, but appellant refused to perform any service or make any repairs in connection therewith. He advised plaintiff his service contract was restricted to the compressor-condenser unit and did not cover service to the remainder of the system.

Plaintiff then called the manufacturer, The Payne Company, who recommended Help!! ! Service Company. On August 6, 1973, Help!! ! -Service Company inspected the system and replaced a liquid line, installed a new motor and cleaned the blower and the evaporator coils. According to plaintiff, the system still did not cool his home. At plaintiff’s request, on August 18, 1973 a representative of Berner’s performed an inspection and found the evaporator coil still dirty, excessive refrigerant in the system, and blocked tubes. Berner’s performed some repairs in order to make the system work and made recommendations for additional repairs. No further repair was made until May, 1975, approximately two weeks prior to trial. At that time Berner’s replaced the coil in plaintiff’s system.

The record establishes, and plaintiff’s counsel stipulates, this case does not involve a redhibitory defect. On the contrary, the only questions for our decision are: (1) the nature of the service contract between plaintiff and appellant; and (2) whether [612]*612there was any breach of that contract by the appellant.

Plaintiff takes the position that on his first service visit appellant agreed to inspect the entire system, ascertain the nature of all needed repairs to it, and perform whatever work was necessary to make the system function. Plaintiff further contends the service contract purchased by him for $30 covered the entire air conditioning system and not merely the unit sold and installed by appellant.

Appellant’s position is that in response to plaintiff’s call for service he ascertained the original condenser was not functioning and agreed only to sell and install the new unit. He further contends the service contract only covered labor for that unit.

The only written evidence is the service contract. It was written by appellant on a form intended for use in connection with the sale or service of television equipment, and the printed portions of the form are meaningless. The handwritten portion merely describes the condenser unit sold and contains a receipt for $30 for a one year service contract. Hence, there is nothing in the written evidence to establish plaintiff’s claim that appellant inspected and diagnosed his entire system and agreed to service it for one year.

The testimony shows applicant went into plaintiff’s attic and remained there for only a brief period of time. Appellant explains he went into the attic solely to ascertain the tonnage capacity of the coils to match the new condenser unit and did not enter the attic in order to inspect the entire system. Plaintiff’s testimony is that appellant went into the attic for only a short period and failed to diagnose the problems in plaintiff’s air conditioning system because of the brevity of the inspection. Taking the evidence as a whole, we do not believe appellant, an experienced air conditioning installer, would guarantee maintenance on an entire system for one year for $30 without a complete inspection of the entire system, including the components inside plaintiff’s attic. We thus conclude the $30 fee was for plaintiff to service only the condenser for one year and the short inspection was only for the purpose of matching the new unit with existing coils.

This finding is supported by the other warranty provisions implicit in the transaction. The unit installed carried a five-year guarantee on the compressor and a one-year warranty on the condenser. The one-year warranty covered parts only and, in the absence of a service contract, after thirty days the owner was responsible for the cost of any labor in repairing the condenser. The service contract between the parties to this unit was intended to fill this gap.

In short, we are satisfied appellant did not inspect or agree to inspect the entire system. His work was limited to the condenser-compressor unit and he did not contract to service the entire system. If he had inspected the entire system and worked thereon, he could be held responsible only for his fault in connection with the inspection and work. Since appellant made no inspection and performed no work on the entire system, his responsibility is confined to the compressor-condenser and does not extend to the whole system. In Dreyfus v. Lourd & Company.1 The Supreme Court stated the rule that a contractor who installs equipment and provides a warranty in connection with the installation does not warrant the entire system into which that part is placed if he did not install, modify, or otherwise affect the entire system; when a contractor furnishes both the equipment and the work called for by his contract, his warranty is limited thereto and goes no further.

The question presented is whether appellant is in breach of his one-year service contract. The record contains much discussion of four areas of appellant’s alleged irresponsible and unworkmanlike performance in the installation of the unit. Plaintiff contends appellant: (1) mismatched the unit with the coils; (2) improperly connected the unit with the central system by [613]

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Related

Dreyfus v. Mrs. William Lourd & Co.
35 So. 369 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1903)

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Bluebook (online)
337 So. 2d 610, 1976 La. App. LEXIS 3546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tassara-v-payne-co-lactapp-1976.