Travelers Insurance Companies v. Demarle, Inc., USA

2005 VT 53, 878 A.2d 267, 178 Vt. 570, 2005 Vt. LEXIS 87
CourtSupreme Court of Vermont
DecidedMay 4, 2005
DocketNo. 03-527
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 2005 VT 53 (Travelers Insurance Companies v. Demarle, Inc., USA) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Vermont primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travelers Insurance Companies v. Demarle, Inc., USA, 2005 VT 53, 878 A.2d 267, 178 Vt. 570, 2005 Vt. LEXIS 87 (Vt. 2005).

Opinion

¶ 1. Plaintiffs Travelers Insurance Companies and Greyston Bakery, Inc. appeal the superior court’s order granting defendant Demarle, Inc., USA summary judgment and dismissing plaintiffs’ lawsuit alleging that Demarle sold Greyston defective baking mats that contaminated Greyston’s food products. The trial court concluded that plaintiffs failed to allege facts from which they could prove that defective or warranted mats caused the contamination. We affirm.

¶ 2. Greyston is a New York corporation that manufactures baked goods and sells them to other companies, primarily Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc., for incorporation into other products such as ice cream. In early October 1997, Ben & Jerry’s noticed small fibers in brownies that it had purchased from Greyston. After notifying Greyston of the problem, [571]*571Ben & Jerry’s disposed of approximately, 47,000 gallons of potentially contaminated ice cream and yogurt worth an estimated $600,000. Greyston’s ensuing investigation revealed that the silicon-based baking mats it used to keep the brownies from sticking to its oven pans had caused the contamination. Greyston had been purchasing the baking mats, called Silpats, from Demarle since 1993. During the first week of October 1997, after discovering the contamination, Greyston disposed of its entire stock of Silpats. On October 22, Greyston informed Demarle that Ben & Jerry’s had found fibers from the Silpats in Grey-ston’s brownies. Eventually, Greyston and its insurer, Travelers Insurance Companies, paid Ben & Jerry’s over $450,000 in exchange for an assignment of any rights the ice cream manufacturer had against Demarle. Plaintiffs then sued Demarle based on claims of products liability, breach of warranty, negligence, and indemnity and contribution. The superior court granted Demarle’s motion for summary judgment and dismissed plaintiffs’ claims, ruling that (1) with respect to the products liability and breach-of-warranty claims, plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that they would be able to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that defective or warranted mats caused the .contamination; (2) the negligence claim was foreclosed by the economic-loss rule; and (3) the indemnity and contribution claims were dependent on the other causes of action that had been dismissed.

¶3. On appeal, plaintiffs do not challenge the superior court’s dismissal of their negligence claim, but argue that they presented genuine issues of material fact creating a jury question as to whether Demarle breached express and implied warranties by selling Greyston defective Silpats. The issue for this Court, then, is whether the superior court erred by ruling, as a matter of law based on plaintiffs’ alleged facts, that plaintiffs would be unable to prove causation by a preponderance of the evidence. In an appeal from a summary judgment ruling, we apply the same standard as that applied by the trial court; therefore, we must determine whether genuine issues of material fact exist and, if not, whether any party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Carr v. Peerless Ins. Co., 168 Vt. 465, 466, 724 A.2d 454, 455 (1998). If we conclude that there are “genuine issues of material fact, within the meaning of V.R.C.P. 56(c), we must reverse the decision granting summary judgment.” Messier v. Metro. Life Ins. Co., 154 Vt. 406, 409, 578 A.2d 98, 99 (1990). In deciding whether there are genuine issues of material fact, we regard the facts asserted in opposition to summary judgment as true as long as they are supported by affidavits or other evidentiary material. Pierce v. Riggs, 149 Vt. 136, 139, 540 A.2d 655, 657 (1987). The moving party has the burden of proof, and the opposing party is ‘“given the benefit of all reasonable doubts and inferences in determining whether a genuine issue [of material fact] exists.’” Messier, 154 Vt. at 409, 578 A.2d at 100 (quoting Weisburgh v. Mahady, 147 Vt. 70, 72, 511 A.2d 304, 305 (1986)).

¶ 4. Here, to the extent that warranties existed,

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Bluebook (online)
2005 VT 53, 878 A.2d 267, 178 Vt. 570, 2005 Vt. LEXIS 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travelers-insurance-companies-v-demarle-inc-usa-vt-2005.