Torres Mas v. Carver Boat Corp.

257 F. Supp. 2d 484, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6146, 2003 WL 1877831
CourtDistrict Court, D. Puerto Rico
DecidedApril 8, 2003
DocketCIV. 00-1652(RLA)
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 257 F. Supp. 2d 484 (Torres Mas v. Carver Boat Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Puerto Rico primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Torres Mas v. Carver Boat Corp., 257 F. Supp. 2d 484, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6146, 2003 WL 1877831 (prd 2003).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER

ACOSTA, District Judge.

Plaintiff José R. Torres-Mas (“Torres-Mas”), a citizen of Puerto Rico, brought this suit against defendant Carver Boat Corporation (“Carver Boat”), a Delaware corporation that manufactures vessels in Wisconsin, invoking this Court’s jurisdiction under diversity of citizenship, 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Torres-Mas prays for rescission of the contract whereby he purchased a vessel manufactured by Carver Boat in accordance with the provisions of the Puerto Rico Civil Code.

A non-jury trial was held on March 18 and 19, 2003.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Torres-Mas filed his original complaint against Carver Yachts on May 25, 2000 requesting the rescission of the sale of a 35-ft. vessel manufactured by Carver Boat, with engines manufactured by Crusader Engines, predecessor of Thermo Power and Pleasurecraft. 1 In essence, plaintiff alleged that the boat suffered from several malfunctions which were never repaired by defendant and rendered it unseaworthy. Specifically, plaintiff claimed that ever since he purchased the vessel there was constant salt water intake and problems with its performance which made the vessel unfit for its intended use. On August 15, 2000, Torres-Mas amended the complaint solely to correct the name of defendant Carver Boat. No modifications were made at that time either to the facts alleged or the legal theory advanced in the complaint. Plaintiff filed a Second Amended Complaint on February 19, 2002 referring to the vessel’s sinking on August 29, 2000. This pleading was stricken by the court. 2

Prior to commencement of trial the Court dismissed plaintiffs request for mental anguish, pain, suffering and moral *486 damages 3 as improper under applicable rescission principles. Additionally, plaintiffs Motion in Limine regarding the testimony of Mr. Michael Osmanski as a fact witness for Carver Boat (docket No. 93) was denied.

II. FINDINGS OF FACT

The court having carefully considered the testimony presented at trial together with the pleadings and documents admitted into evidence hereby makes the following findings of facts in this case:

Plaintiff, a resident and citizen of Puerto Rico, has had more than fifteen (15) years of experience with vessels, owned and used. Sea vessels and helicopter flying are his hobbies.

Defendant is a Delaware corporation with operations in Wisconsin. Mr. Michael Osmanski is currently a technical service manager at Carver Boat and an employee of the company for eighteen (18) years. As part of his duties, Mr. Osmanski deals with service related questions from dealers and customers. Further, Mr. Osmanski has experience in the manufacturing process of vessels at Carver Boat’s facilities. This process includes quality testing and inspection procedures regularly carried out by Carver Boat personnel prior to shipping a newly-manufactured vessel. Mr. Osmanski personally inspected plaintiffs vessel on January 22 and 23, 2003 at its home port dry storage area.

In May 1998 Plaintiff purchased a Carver Boat model 350 Mariner, year 1999, hull # CDRR8006F899, with twin 7.4 LMPI Mercury Inboard engines through Sun & Sea Marine, Inc., its exclusive dealer in Puerto Rico, which he named “Crystal Waves”.

Before he purchased the Crystal Waves plaintiff had met Mr. Juan Lorenzo Mar-tínez Colón, general manager of Sun & Sea Marine and had been on board of Mr. Martinez Colon’s Carver vessel. Mr. Lorenzo personally handled the negotiations with plaintiff regarding the purchase of the vessel. Mr. Martínez Colón testified that plaintiff had always shown an interest in the Carver 350 Mariner model and that he did not have any influence in plaintiffs decision to purchase that particular model. This statement was confirmed by the fact that prior to his contact with Sun & Sea Marine Torres-Mas had procured a price quotation for a 1998 350 Mariner from a Carver Boat dealer in Florida.

The purchase price of the Crystal Waves was $186,000. Plaintiff paid a downpayment and financed the balance of $156,100 with Bank & Trust of Puerto Rico.

The Crystal Waves was manufactured, inspected and tested by Carver Boat at its facilities at Pulaski, Wisconsin, during June, 1998. Quality assurance was given by Carver Boat personnel as evidenced in the vessel’s Quality Assurance Packet. Further, no major problems were reflected in the vessel’s Inspection Data Analysis and Test Facility Inspection reports, especially related to the vessel’s bilge pumps. Mr. Osmanski testified that each new vessel is checked with a 300-item checklist and it is placed in a test facility pool in the factory for four (4) hours, where four (4) Carver Boat inspectors record the results of all the testing. Mr. Osmanski also explained that the results of all the aforementioned reports confirm that plaintiffs vessel was in condition and seaworthy when it left the factory and before being shipped to Puerto Rico.

The Crystal Waves was released for shipment by the manufacturer on July 1, 1998 and delivered to plaintiff at San Juan *487 Bay Marine, San Juan, Puerto Rico, on November 8, 1998. At that time Torres-Mas signed the Pre-Delivery Service Record for the vessel required by Carver Boat for its warranty and received the vessel’s manual (Owner’s Guide) which he admitted having read.

Plaintiff then transported the Crystal Waves by sea to its home port in Marina del Puerto del Rey, Fajardo, Puerto Rico. According to plaintiff, during the initial trip to Fajardo saltwater was entering the vessel’s cabin and its speed was not what he had expected. However, Torres-Mas was able to reach the home port and admitted that even though his main concern was the water intake he continued to utilize the vessel.

Plaintiff consented to the use of the Crystal Waves as the Carver Boat exhibition vessel in the Puerto del Rey Boat Show, held on Martin Luther King’s Jr. Holiday Weekend in January of 1999. Mr. Gustavo Léctora, an employee of Sun & Sea Marine, 4 stayed two (2) nights on board the vessel while on exhibition at the boat show.

On April 27, 1999, Mr. Rich Brown, International Sales and Service Director at Carver Boat, received a telephone call from plaintiff voicing various complaints regarding the vessel’s operation, particularly the engines and replacement of several parts inside the cabin. As explained by Mr. Osmanski, Carver Boat’s normal procedure for handling customer claims requires that the same be brought to Carver Boat’s attention via its dealers. Should a customer contact Carver Boat directly, the company requests that the concerns be put in writing so that they can be forwarded to the local dealer for immediate attention. Thus, Mr. Brown asked plaintiff to forward his claims in writing, which he did by way of a letter addressed to Mr. Brown on April 28,1999. 5

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Bluebook (online)
257 F. Supp. 2d 484, 2003 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6146, 2003 WL 1877831, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/torres-mas-v-carver-boat-corp-prd-2003.