Tripod Boats, Inc. v. George Engine Co.

• Decision Date: 07 December 1964
• Docket Number: No. 1558,1558
• Citation: 170 So.2d 238
• Parties: TRIPOD BOATS, INC. v. GEORGE ENGINE CO., Inc. and General Motors Corporation.
• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US

Page 238

170 So.2d 238

TRIPOD BOATS, INC. v. GEORGE ENGINE CO., Inc. and General Motors Corporation.

No. 1558.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.

Dec. 7, 1964.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 11, 1965.

George C. Ehmig and George M. Leppert, New Orleans, for plaintiff-appellant.

Adams & Reese, Sam A. Le Blanc, III, New Orleans, for George Engine Co., defendant-appellee.

Lemle & Kelleher, George B. Matthews, David L. Campbell, New Orleans, for General Motors Corporation, defendant-appellee.

Before McBRIDE, YARRUT and BARNETTE, JJ.

CHRIS T. BARNETTE Judge pro tem.

The plaintiff-appellant, a corporation composed of three stockholders, H. Newton Smith, John Edwin Kyle, Jr., and Lesley Levy, purchased three twin-screw crew boats from defendant-appellee, George Engine Co., Inc., namely, the 'Trinity,' delivered June 29, 1956; the 'Trident,' delivered December 18, 1956; and the 'Triton,' delivered February 15, 1957. It appears that the boats were of identical size and specification and each was powered by two diesel engines manufactured by General Motors Corporation.

The engines were of a new design developed by General Motors and not theretofore tried in service on the Gulf Coast. Almost immediately after the 'Trinity' was put in service, trouble developed with the engines. The other two boats, being under construction and under option to plaintiff tp purchase, were completed with minor changes in the motors and in turn delivered to plaintiff as completed. Likewise engine trouble developed in each one shortly after being put into service. In short, the engines were a failure; and after numerous attempts at repair and modification, they were replaced by other engines of a proven design .

Plaintiff brought this suit on January 18, 1961, against George Engine Co., Inc., from whom the boats were purchased, and General Motors, manufacturer of the engines, for damages alleged to have resulted from the unseaworthiness of the vessels. The items of damage listed include loss of time from service, loss of contracts, repairs, loss in resale of the boats, miscellaneous expenses, etc. Plaintiff's suit is based upon an alleged breach of warranty, both express and implied by both defendants.

Both defendants filed exceptions of no right or cause of action and prescription of one year. The defendant, George Engine Co., Inc ., additionally filed a motion for summary judgment. The exceptions and motion for summary judgment were argued and submitted on January 31, 1964. On February 10, plaintiff filed a supplemental and amended petition. On February 26, judgment was rendered, signed, and filed maintaining the exceptions of prescription on behalf of the defendants and dismissing plaintiff's suit as its cost. It is from that judgment that this appeal was taken.

The appellant has specified three alleged errors upon which its appeal is founded; namely, (1) that the court was in error in dismissing plaintiff's suit without allowing plaintiff opportunity to correct the deficiency in its pleadings as required by LSA-C.C.P. art. 934; (2) that the court was in error in applying the prescription of one year applicable to actions in redhibition as provided in LSA-C.C. art. 2534, and that it should have applied LSA-C.C. art. 3544, providing ten-year prescription for personal actions arising out of breach of contract (warranty); (3) that the law of Michigan should have been applied relative to the interruption of prescription, rather than assuming without proof that the Louisiana law controlled.

The first alleged error has been argued strenuously by plaintiff's counsel based on LSA-C.C.P. art. 934 which provides as follows:

'When the grounds of the objection pleaded by the peremptory exception may be removed by amendment of the petition, the judgment sustaining the exception Shall order such amendment within the delay allowed by the court. If the grounds of the objection cannot be so removed, or if plaintiff fails to comply with the order to amend, the action shall be dismissed.' (Emphasis ours.)

Plaintiff-appellant points to that portion of Article 934 emphasized by italics which he contends makes it mandatory that the trial judge grant leave to amend the petition to meet the objection raised by the exception. This, when read in connection with the rest of the article means, obviously, that the amendment must be ordered '(w)hen the grounds of the objection * * * May by removed by amendment * * *.' (Emphasis ours.) This qualification gives some discretion to the trial judge and that part of the article upon which plaintiff relies is not, therefore, absolutely mandatory. Whether or not the trial judge acted within reasonable discretion is dealt with below.

Counsel contends further that the testimony of plaintiff's stockholders (Smith, Kyle, and Levy), taken by way of deposition on January 29, 1964, for the purpose of discovery and filed in evidence 'without objection by either defendant,' had the effect of enlarging plaintiff's pleadings and supplied the factual allegations necessary to meet the objections raised by the exceptions, citing Williams v. Marionneaux, 240 La. 713, 124 So.2d 919 (1960).

In order to take its case out of the prescriptive limitation of one year and bring it under the ten-year limitation, it is essential that plaintiff allege and prove a contractual relationship between itself and defendants for the construction of the vessels according to specifications and the breach of that contract in some significant respect. Though a suit is one for damages, if it arises out of breach of contract the action is not barred by the limitation of one year. Yeargain v. Blum, 144 So.2d 756 (La.App. 4th Cir.1962); American Heating & Plumb. Co. v. West End Country Club, 171 La. 482, 131 So. 466 (1930); Liles v. Barnhart, 152 La. 419, 93 So. 490. The plaintiff failed to allege in its original petition a contractual relationship for the design, specifications, and construction of the boats. On the contrary, it alleged in paragraph III of its original petition that on certain specific dates it 'purchased from George Engine Co., Inc., authorized representatives and dealers and distributors for General Motors Corporation, three steel diesel twin screw crew boats, * * *.' In paragraph VI of its original petition it made general allegations of warranty and in paragraph IX a breach of these general and implied warranties. The breach of warranty is not enough to change the character of the action into one arising out of contract to bring it within the ten-year prescriptive period under LSA-C.C. art. 3544. This point was clearly made in an able opinion by Judge Tate in Crowley Grain Drier, Inc. v. Fontenot, 132 So.2d 573 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1961). We quote with approval the following excerpt from that opinion:

'Ordinarily, as the defendants contend, the prescription applicable for damages caused by a breach of contract is not a one year prescription, but is...