Travelers Insurance v. Magic Chef, Inc.

483 A.2d 1115, 1984 Del. LEXIS 382
CourtSupreme Court of Delaware
DecidedJuly 26, 1984
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 483 A.2d 1115 (Travelers Insurance v. Magic Chef, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Delaware primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Travelers Insurance v. Magic Chef, Inc., 483 A.2d 1115, 1984 Del. LEXIS 382 (Del. 1984).

Opinion

McNEILLY, Justice:

This appeal arises from a subrogation claim brought in Superior Court by Travelers Insurance Company (Travelers) against Johnson Corporation (Johnson), R.W. Beckett Corp. (Beckett), and Diamond Ice and Fuel Company (Diamond). The claim advanced was grounded in both warranty and negligence. As to breach of warranty, a verdict for Johnson was directed by the Trial Court on the basis of a consequential damages limitation in Johnson’s warranty. As to the negligence claim, the Trial Court, after denying plaintiff’s request for the application of the doctrine of res ipsa lo-quitur in a pre-trial ruling, permitted the case to go to trial before a jury. The jury returned a verdict awarding .the plaintiff $33,364.10, allocating fault between Johnson and Beckett at fifty (50) per cent each. Thereafter, the Trial Court granted Johnson and Beckett’s Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict (JNOV) based upon the rationale that “the jury was charged with no single theory which would attribute negligence to both Johnson and Beckett.”

For the reasons set out below, we find that the Trial Court abused its discretion in granting the defendants’ Motion for JNOV. Consequently, we reverse the Trial Court’s decision and reinstate the jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff.

I

The basic facts giving rise to the matter before the Court are as follows:

Travelers is the subrogee of a claim of Weston J. Donehower, one of its insureds, for soot damage caused by a malfunction of a furnace manufactured by Johnson. The blower motor of the furnace was manufactured by Beckett, and the entire unit installed in the insured’s home by Diamond. [1117]*1117Bell’s Supply Company, a distributor of such products who purchased the furnace in question from Johnson and in turn sold it to Diamond, was a non-party to the lawsuit.

The furnace was installed in the insured’s home on September 27, 1978, prior to the insured leaving on an extended absence from the home. On December 16, 1978, during the insured’s absence, the incident giving rise to the claim for soot damage occurred. The evidence indicates that the insured prior to departure had not inspected, adjusted, or otherwise tampered with the furnace or its thermostat.

In its Opinion, the Trial Court found that a myriad of theories regarding causation for the furnace malfunction was presented at trial. These included: (1) misalignment of the furnace burner and combustion chamber, (2) a lack of concentricity of elements of the burner’s flame assembly with the flame retention head, and (3) a loose set screw affixing the burner blower fan to an appropriate shaft. The Trial Court further found that the several theories lent themselves to six (6) bases of liability, none of which was capable of permitting the jury to find both Johnson and Beckett negligent.

II

On appeal to this Court, the plaintiff raises the following arguments in support of its appeal:

1. The decision of the Trial Court in granting defendants’ Motion for Judgment Notwithstanding the Verdict was clearly erroneous, and constituted an abuse of discretion as contrary to the evidence.
2. The Court Below erred in refusing to instruct the jury that an unfavorable inference could be drawn from the defendant’s failure to produce the subject furnace, or parts thereof, which were in the defendant’s control.
3. The Court Below erred in directing a verdict for the defendants on plaintiff’s breach of warranty claim on the basis that the plaintiff had not proved the warranty disclaimer was unconscionable.
4.The Court Below erred in refusing to permit the plaintiff to use the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur to shift the burden of evidence to the defendants.

As the plaintiff further asserts in regard to the issues, a finding that the Trial Court abused its discretion under Argument I above eliminates the need to consider Arguments II, III, and IV. Thus, we turn first to that contention.

In entertaining the motion for JNOV, the Trial Court was obliged to consider the evidence presented at trial in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and decide whether under any reasonable view of the evidence, the jury could justifiably find for plaintiff. Ebersole v. Lowengrub, Del. Supr., 208 A.2d 495 (1965). Accord, Parks v. Ziegler, Del.Supr., 221 A.2d 510 (1966); Rumble v. Lingo, Del.Super., 147 A.2d 511 (1958). Before we undertake to determine whether the evidence, and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, could support the jury’s verdict, we find it necessary to review certain findings made by the Trial Court to ascertain the attitude in which it viewed the evidence.

As noted earlier, the Trial Court found that there were three (3) theories regarding causation which in turn generated six (6) bases of liability. Those six bases were as follows:

1. That the combustion chamber in the furnace and the Beckett burner were misaligned during manufacture or handling (... theory #1 implicating Johnson);
2. That the nozzle of the Beckett burner was not properly aligned with the flame retention head of the Beckett burner (... theory # 2 implicating Johnson);
3. That the setting of the flame assembly was improper for normal combustion in a flame retention head burner (... theory # 2 implicating Beckett);
[1118]*11184. That the set screw designed to hold the squirrel cage fan on the motor shaft was improperly set when the burner was manufactured (... theory implicating Beckett);
5. Failure to use a flame mirror and a measuring device, such as a Beckett con-centricity gauge, which would have permitted detection of defects in the combustion chamber and burner at the time of installation (... theory # 1 implicating Diamond);
6. Failure to check, during installation, the position of the set screw which held the squirrel cage fan on the motor shaft (... theory implicating Diamond).

From this observation, the Trial Court embarked on a detailed analysis of the possible interrelationships of the theories and bases for liability, and went on to conclude that “[cjlearly, the verdict ... contradicts the testimony at trial”.

While the Trial Court’s conclusion could be reasonably drawn based upon its determination of the bases of liability, we disagree with those bases. The Trial Court appears to have been concerned only with the causes of the soot itself, rather than what caused it and, at the same time, permitted it to travel throughout the house. Under that view, we find sufficient evidence in the record to conclude that the concurrent negligence of the two defendants, namely Johnson and Beckett, could have caused the damage.

Turning to the record, we first point out that witness Harold Blackburn, who had been a subcontractor of defendant Diamond present during the installation of the insured’s furnace, testified on redirect examination as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
483 A.2d 1115, 1984 Del. LEXIS 382, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travelers-insurance-v-magic-chef-inc-del-1984.