Rauch v. American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp.

• Decision Date: 02 August 1960
• Docket Number: No. 50037,50037
• Parties: Myrtle RAUCH, Appellee, v. AMERICAN RADIATOR & STANDARD SANITARY CORPORATION, a Corporation, Appellant, Cy-Gas Company, a Corporation; Maurice Longval and Harry Longval, d/b/a Longval Bros. Hardware, a Partnership; Leo Beeson, an Individual; Wigman Company, a Corporation, and Edmund J. Senecal, d/b/a Senecal Lumber Company, Defendants and Appellees, Texas Natural Gasoline Corporation, Cross-Defendant and Appellee.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 607

104 N.W.2d 607

252 Iowa 1

Myrtle RAUCH, Appellee, v. AMERICAN RADIATOR & STANDARD SANITARY CORPORATION, a Corporation, Appellant, Cy-Gas Company, a Corporation; Maurice Longval and Harry Longval, d/b/a Longval Bros. Hardware, a Partnership; Leo Beeson, an Individual; Wigman Company, a Corporation, and Edmund J. Senecal, d/b/a Senecal Lumber Company, Defendants and Appellees, Texas Natural Gasoline Corporation, Cross-Defendant and Appellee.

No. 50037.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Aug. 2, 1960.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 21, 1960.

Stilwill & Wilson, Sioux City, for appellant.

Bruce A. Crary, Sioux City, and W. W. Huff, Sioux City, for appellee, Myrtle Rauch.

Sifford & Wadden, Sioux City, for appellee, Cy-Gas Company.

Shull, Marshall, Mayne, Marks & Vizintos, Sioux City, and Herbert W. Bails, Sloan, for appellees, Maurice Longval and Harry Longval, d/b/a Longval Bros. Hardware.

Whicher & Davis, Sioux City, for appellee, Leo Beeson.

Shull, Marshall, Mayne, Marks & Vizintos, Sioux City, for appellee, Wigman Co.

Hutchison, Hurst & Duggan, Sioux City, for appellee, Edmund J. Senecal, d/b/a Senecal Lumber Co.

Harper, Gleysteen & Nelson, Sioux City, for appellee, Texas Natural Gasoline Corp.

GARRETT, Justice.

This is a law action in which plaintiff, Myrtle Rauch, sought to recover damages on account of injuries sustained by her when gas which escaped from a defective water heater exploded. The plaintiff, hereinafter referred to as appellee and her husband rented and on June 30, 1957 moved into the Lee Beeson property in Salix, Iowa. Appellee alleged the explosion was caused by the malfunctioning of the safety pilot valve on the Beeson heater manufactured by appellant, American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corporation. The safety pilot valve involved was manufactured by Titan Valve & Manufacturing Company, and was placed on the heater some ten months after the heater was originally sold and installed. It was purchased by the local dealer from appellant's distributor who had purchased it from appellant and placed it in its stock.

Defendant's motions for directed verdict, to dismiss, to withdraw certain issues, for judgment notwithstanding the verdict and for new trial were overruled. Defendant appeals on five grounds: (1) That it was neither the manufacturer nor did it stand in position of manufacturer but was only an intermediary seller and as such had no duty to inspect the valve; (2) That said valve was sold merely for inclusion in distributor's stock and not as a replacement of the original valve on the heater; (3) That the jury should have been instructed that the defendant had a right to rely upon the manufacturer of the valve for any inspection or tests; (4) That the jury should have been instructed that the use of the valve for approximately five years without mishap might be considered as evidence that the valve was in proper and safe working condition; (5) That the verdict was excessive and appeared to have been influenced by passion and prejudice.

The Beeson house was equipped with liquid petroleum or bottle gas which was turned off before Beeson left it. On July 1, Mrs. Rauch called Harry Longval, the local gas supplier, who came that evening and hooked up the stove and adjusted it for LP gas, turned on the gas an lit the hot water heater in the basement. Mrs. Rauch used the hot water that evening but the next morning the water was cold so she went to the basement to see what was wrong. The basement had no connection or opening into the upper part of the house, and was entered by steps from the outside, the door at the bottom of which opened inward. The steps were enclosed by a trap door. Mrs. Rauch descended the steps, took a few steps into the basement, turned around and turned on the light switch which was to the right of the door where she entered. There was an explosion and she was severely burned. The explosion was of considerable force causing damage to the walls in the upper portion of the house and causing cracks in and pushing out of the foundation. The deputy state fire marshal reached the conclusion the explosion was caused by the faulty operation of the gas water heater.

The heater was examined later and tested at Morningside College on November 1, 1958 by Professor Lee L. Amidon, who appeared as an expert witness for plaintiff.

The tanks or bottles containing the odorized gas were located outside the house and carried to the heater by copper pipes or tubing. The flow of gas to the burner in the heater was first controlled by a thermostatic control which opened a valve permitting gas to enter the heater when the water in the tank of the heater was reduced or cooled to a set or fixed temperature, and was also controlled by a safety pilot valve or unit to which was attached a pilot light which lit the burner of the heater when gas was supplied to it. The purpose of this valve was to shut off the flow of gas in the event the pilot light was out so that the burner would not light. Inside the valve is enclosed a thermal tube of quartz, the length of which is altered by expansion or contraction through temperature change and this change of length acts upon a magnet, which, by action of a spring, serves to open or close a valve regulating the flow of gas to the burner in the heater. Thus when the pilot light is on, the quartz rod is heated and expends, opening the valve but if the pilot light is off, it contracts, closing the valve so that gas cannot escape through the burner of the heater. The length, or position of the rod must be adjusted so that action upon the magnet will readily open and close the valve and this is accomplished by turning the thermal tube. It was found by Professor Amidon's examination that the safety pilot valve would remain open after the pilot light was extinguished and after the rod had cooled, thus permitting gas to flow into the burner when the pilot light was not on, and it was the opinion of Professor Amidon that this maloperation of the safety valve of the heater was caused by the maladjustment of the thermal tube in the safety pilot unit. This was known in the testimony as 'miscalibration' and Professor Amidon was of the opinion the miscalibration occurred before the valve left the factory of the Titan Valve & Manufacturing Company, its manufacturer, and continued to the time of the explosion and that if so the safety valve would not have worked at any time. He also testified that if, upon tests, the valve worked at any time within the period before the explosion, that would show it was properly calibrated and that it was not then defective and his opinion would be different.

Beeson would use a match to light the heater, placing it inside the heater, getting down on the floor, squatting on his knee. There was never a time during the fifty or sixty times he lit the heater that he smelled gas, nor did he ever notice any 'whoosh' or any pop as though there was gas at or around the heater. The water heater was an American Standard Budget type heater sold by appellant. It was purchased by Beeson from Senecal, a local dealer, in February 1952, who purchased it from Wigman Company, who purchased it from appellant, Wigman Company was a plumbing and heating wholesaler and did not sell at retail. The water heater was made by American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation through assembly of various parts, including the safety pilot valve procured from other manufacturers and was placed upon the market under the name of American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation. In December 1952 Beeson had some difficulty with the heater and called Senecal, who came and put in the pilot control valve involved here and it worked all right for approximately five years. The purchasing agent for Wigman Company testified the valve may have come from Titan in Cleveland or it may have come from Buffalo plant of appellant. It has the name of Titan stamped upon it as is shown by the exhibit. The valve is used in a number of water heaters manufactured by other companies.

The question on which this case turns is whether or not on the record as made, appellant may be held liable for having furnished the defective safety pilot valve involved in this case as a replacement for another defective one which was a part of the water heater manufactured by it.

Appellant takes the position that it is not liable for any defect in the safety valve in question, that it merely purchased the item from the responsible manufacturer thereof and sold it in the original package as a separate item of merchandise without any reason or duty to inspect or test it.

Appellee's case was tried upon the theory that a manufacturer which incorporates into its own product certain parts manufactured by another and distributes the finished product under its own name and which undertakes, in the ordinary course of its business, to supply replacements for use upon and in its manufactured product, is liable if by reason of its negligence in furnishing a defective replacement part damage is done. In other words, it is appellee's theory that appellant would have been liable for any damage sustained by reason of its having incorporated a defective safety pilot valve in any water heater manufactured by it and distributed in its own name and that, by the same token, if it undertakes to replace a part of the heater which fails, it must exercise the same care it was bound to exercise when it installed the part which was replaced. Stating it differently, may the manufacturer of a water heater replace a defective part thereof with another part which is so defective as to cause great damage, and escape liability because the part which it supplied to replace the original part was manufactured by another?

Appellant furnished its distributors and dealers with a catalogue for replacement parts which were designated by numbers. The type of pilot valve involved here was listed in that catalogue.

A jury verdict for p...