Ungemach v. Grubbs

566 F. Supp. 323, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15701
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedJuly 5, 1983
DocketNo. CA 3-81-0882-C
StatusPublished

This text of 566 F. Supp. 323 (Ungemach v. Grubbs) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ungemach v. Grubbs, 566 F. Supp. 323, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15701 (N.D. Tex. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

WILLIAM M. TAYLOR, Jr., District Judge.

Plaintiff, a resident of Indiana, has sued Defendant, a resident of Texas, in diversity under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 over a helicopter that he bought from Defendant. Plaintiff has elected to retain the helicopter and sue for damages under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, V.T.C.A., Bus. & C. § 17.41 et seq. (Brief in Support of Plaintiff’s Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, page 2.)

I.

To be more exact, he has requested relief under § 17.50(a)(2) of that Act which reads:

(a) A consumer may maintain an action where any of the following constitute producing cause of actual damages:
(2) breach of an express or implied warranty; ..., under § 17.50(b)(1) which reads:
(b) In a suit under this section, each consumer who prevails may obtain:
(1) the amount of actual damages found by the trier of fact. In addition the court shall award two times that portion of the actual damages that does not exceed $1,000. If the trier of facts finds that the conduct of the defendant was committed knowingly, the trier of fact may award not more than three times the amount of actual damages in excess of $1,000;

and under subsection (d) which reads:

(d) Each consumer who prevails shall be awarded court costs and reasonable and necessary attorneys’ fees.

The Defendant contends that the definition of “knowingly” under the T.D.T.P.-C. P.A. found at § 17.45(9) requires any breach of a warranty to be made with knowledge to be actionable.

The definition of “knowingly” found at § 17.45(9) reads as follows:

“Knowingly” means actual awareness of the falsity, deception, or unfairness of the act or practice giving rise to the consumer’s claim or, in an action brought under Subdivision (2) of Subsection (a) of Section 17.50, actual awareness of the act or practice constituting the breach of warranty, but actual awareness may be inferred where objective manifestations [324]*324indicate that a person acted with actual awareness.

Clearly, the reference to § 17.50(a)(2) is only to allow a consumer to prove knowledge on the part of a seller by circumstantial evidence for the purposes of treble damages that may be awarded under the second sentence of § 17.50(b)(1), above.

Apparently, Plaintiff concedes that Defendant did not act knowingly as he has only requested $2,000 under § 17.50(b)(1) in his Brief, above, and in Plaintiff’s Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, page 7.

Plaintiff has put forth the definition of an express warranty as found in the Uniform Commercial Code as being appropriate for this case. That provision, found at V.T. C.A., Bus. & C. § 2.313 provides:

(a) Express, warranties by the seller are created as follows:
(1) Any affirmation of fact or promise made by the seller to the buyer which relates to the goods and becomes part of the basis of the bargain creates an express warranty that the goods shall conform to the affirmation or promise.
(2) Any description of the goods which is made part of the basis of the bargain creates an express warranty that the goods shall conform to the description.
(3) Any sample or model which is made part of the basis of the bargain creates an express warranty that the whole of the goods shall conform to the sample or model.

(b) It is not necessary to the creation of an express warranty that the seller use formal words such as “warrant” or “guarantee” or that he have a specific intention to make a warranty, but an affirmation merely of the value of the goods or a statement purporting to be merely the seller’s opinion or commendation of the goods does not create a warranty.

This would appear to be the appropriate definition of express warranty for our purposes. But, the Uniform Commercial Code also contains one other pertinent section. V.T.C.A., Bus. & C. § 2.316, which provides in subsection (a):

(a) Words or conduct relevant to the creation of an express warranty and words or conduct tending to negate or limit warranty shall be construed wherever reasonable as consistent with each other; but subject to the provisions of this chapter on parol or extrinsic evidence (Section 2.202) negation or limitation is inoperative to the extent that such construction is unreasonable.

II.

Plaintiff is a physician whose practice takes him into several small towns in Indiana. For some time, he has used a small fixed wing aircraft to hop from one to the other so that he can expeditiously meet his obligations. About October 1, 1980, Plaintiff was contacted by Defendant, a dealer in aircraft, about a fixed wing aircraft that Defendant had shown to Plaintiff some time during the previous July. Plaintiff informed Defendant that he was no longer interested in a fixed wing aircraft but was interested in a helicopter. Defendant told Plaintiff that he believed that he had one for sale and would contact him again about it.

Defendant is an experienced fixed wing pilot and a licensed aircraft broker. He thought that he knew of a small, two-place helicopter that was for sale by another physician who also brokered aircraft. He determined that the helicopter was for sale and that he could get it at the wholesale price of $16,500. He also obtained the log book for the helicopter and talked to its previous owner, a close friend. He learned that the helicopter had recently passed its yearly inspection and should have been ready to fly at that time.

Plaintiff and Defendant had several telephone conversations that October and as a culmination of them, Plaintiff agreed to purchase the helicopter and did wire Defendant the agreed upon purchase price of $22,500.

[325]*325As Plaintiff was not at that time qualified to fly helicopters, he needed to obtain the services of a pilot to ferry the helicopter to Indiana. Defendant assisted him in finding a qualified pilot who was hired by Plaintiff at a cost of $600.

The pilot went to check out the newly purchased helicopter and determined that it was not airworthy. Upon the agreement of Plaintiff, a certified inspector of Enstam helicopters, such as the one Plaintiff had purchased, was hired to inspect the helicopter. He made a list of deficiencies and upon the go-ahead of Plaintiff, signed a work order so that these deficiencies could be corrected. At that time, another work order was signed authorizing the replacement of a windshield, the repainting of the helicopter and the repair of a radio. Plaintiff knew when he purchased the helicopter that a new windshield had been obtained but needed installation and that the helicopter could stand a new coat of paint. He agreed that these maintenance items would be performed at his expense. The former work order resulted in an invoice which Plaintiff paid in the sum of $8,497.82. The later work order was invoiced for $6,026.47. Only $450 of this invoice is shown to be for outside repair of the radio.

The pilot billed Plaintiff for $200 for his time and effort in getting the helicopter airworthy.

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566 F. Supp. 323, 1983 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15701, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ungemach-v-grubbs-txnd-1983.