Spada v. Stauffer Chemical Company

• Decision Date: 21 July 1961
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 60-36.
• Citation: 195 F. Supp. 819
• Parties: Frank SPADA, Amil Spada and Vito Spada, Plaintiffs, v. STAUFFER CHEMICAL COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Oregon

195 F. Supp. 819

Frank SPADA, Amil Spada and Vito Spada, Plaintiffs, v. STAUFFER CHEMICAL COMPANY, a corporation, Defendant.

Civ. No. 60-36.

United States District Court D. Oregon.

July 21, 1961.

Charles S. Crookham, Neal D. Wright, Portland, Or., for plaintiffs.

Howard K. Beebe, Maguire, Shields, Morrison, Bailey & Kester, Portland, Or., for defendant.

EAST, District Judge.

Posture of the Case

This matter was tried to the Court without a jury, and after hearing the evidence adduced by all of the parties, the Court took the case under advisement, granting the parties leave to file further briefs herein. The Court having reviewed the evidence and perused the briefs of the parties and being advised in the premises, enters this opinion.

Parties in Jurisdiction

The plaintiffs Frank Spada, Amil Spada and Vito Spada (Spadas) were, during the year 1959, copartners organized to grow agricultural products, particularly snap beans, on approximately 92 acres of leased land in Multnomah County, Oregon, and are citizens of the State of Oregon.

The defendant Stauffer Chemical Company, a corporation (Stauffer), is a citizen and has its principal place of business in San Francisco, California. Therefore, this Court has jurisdiction upon diversity of citizenship of the parties, inasmuch as the amount involved exceeds the sum of $10,000, exclusive of costs and interest. 28 U.S.C.A. § 1332.

Summation of Evidence

It appears that Stauffer manufactures a certain chemical product known as "EPTAM 6E", a selective herbicide designed and formulated for the purpose, among others, of controlling certain noxious weeds and grasses for preplant soil incorporation for snap bean production. It further appears that Spadas purchased from a local co-op distributor of Stauffer approximately 33¾ gallons of "EPTAM 6E" and applied the same to 60½ acres of the aforementioned tract for the purpose of assisting in the weed control and the culture of their snap bean crop.

It appears from the evidence that in areas of the land treated, there appeared an excessive amount of weeds, and in those areas the weeds did reduce the bean crop, the weeds consisting primarily of horsetail rushweed, a weed which Stauffer's herbicide does not purport to control in any way, and there is some evidence of a substantial root rot, a fungus disease of the bean plant, which Stauffer's herbicide does not cause nor in anywise control, but there appears to have been an appreciable amount of nut grass and pigweed, which weeds "EPTAM 6E" purported to control.

Contentions of Plaintiffs

It is most difficult to determine whether the Spadas contend that they suffered a loss for a portion of their bean crop due to the negligence of Stauffer in the manufacture of the product, or whether they rely on an implied warranty of Stauffer as to the quality of its product. O.R.S. 75.150(2).

This Court will assume for the purposes of this opinion, without deciding, that under ORS 75.150(1) and (2) there was an implied warranty on the part of Stauffer that the product was "reasonably fit" for Spadas' purposes and a further implied warranty that the product was of "merchantable quality."

Conclusion as to Negligence Theory

I find that Spadas have completely failed to prove by a preponderance of all of the evidence in the case that Stauffer was in anywise negligent in the misformulation or production of "EPTAM 6E" purchased by Spadas and applied to the acreage aforesaid or that any negligence on the part of Stauffer was the proximate cause of any damage to Spadas' bean crop or the extent thereof and that, therefore, Spadas cannot recover upon any theory of negligence on the part of Stauffer.

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