GAF Corp. v. Zack Co., 82-46
| Decision Date | 17 January 1984 |
| Docket Number | No. 82-46,82-46 |
| Parties | 37 UCC Rep.Serv. 1113 GAF CORPORATION, Appellant, v. The ZACK COMPANY, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Thomson, Zeder, Bohrer, Werth, Adorno & Razook and Jon W. Zeder and Sanford L. Bohrer and Richard J. Ovelmen and Charles V. Senatore, Miami, for appellant.
Britton, Cohen, Kaufman & Schantz and Frank J. Sinagra and Stuart R. Silver and Valeria A. Stott, Miami, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and HUBBART and NESBITT, JJ.
This is an appeal from a final judgment entered upon a jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff in a products liability action sounding in negligence and breach of implied warranty. Because the plaintiff herein did not sustain any personal injuries or property damage due to the defective roofing materials sued upon and otherwise has no privity of contract with the defendant manufacturer, we hold that the plaintiff has no actionable tort or contract claims against the defendant manufacturer, and reverse the final judgment under review.
The facts of this case are as follows. The plaintiff Zack Company is a roofing contractor which installs roofs. In connection with two building projects on which it had roofing contracts, the plaintiff Zack purchased from East Coast Supply Corporation certain roofing materials which had been manufactured and marketed by the defendant GAF Corporation. These materials, in turn, were installed by the plaintiff Zack upon roofs for the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in downtown Miami, Florida and the Boca West Condominium in Boca Raton, Florida. Without dispute, the installed roofs were greatly defective in many respects on both projects. Although hotly contested below, there was sufficient evidence adduced at trial to show that the roofing materials which had been used in these roofing jobs were defective and had been negligently manufactured by the defendant GAF, thereby causing the installed roofs to be defective. Howard Johnson Motor Lodge and Boca West Condominium Association both brought actions against the plaintiff Zack based on the admittedly defective roofs installed by Zack. The Howard Johnson suit was litigated in an arbitration proceeding resulting in an arbitration award adverse to the plaintiff Zack. A final judgment confirming the arbitration award in favor of Howard Johnson was entered against the plaintiff Zack in the amount of $33,925.89; attorney's fees and certain other costs were also incurred by the plaintiff Zack in defending this arbitration proceeding. The Boca West suit was settled for $10,000; in addition, the plaintiff Zack incurred a $32,000 attorney's fee and other costs in defending this action.
The plaintiff Zack, when the above suits were completed, brought this products liability action below against the defendant GAF. It claimed, in counts sounding in negligence and breach of implied warranty, that it was held liable in the above Howard Johnson and Boca West suits because of the defective roofing materials negligently manufactured by the defendant GAF. It sought compensatory damages for its out-of-pocket expenses in paying the judgment and settlement, as well as attorney's fees and other costs in the above third-party actions; it also sought punitive damages in a separate count. The case proceeded to trial in which the above facts were established. Defense motions for a directed verdict were denied below and the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff Zack in the amount of $96,875 in compensatory damages and...
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