Wilson v. Dodge Trucks, Inc.
| Decision Date | 20 April 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 32066,32066 |
| Citation | 235 S.E.2d 142,238 Ga. 636 |
| Parties | , 21 UCC Rep.Serv. 1062 Johnny WILSON v. DODGE TRUCKS, INC., et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Hurt, Richardson, Garner & Todd, J. Robert Persons, Atlanta, for appellant.
Freeman & Hawkins, Andrew M. Scherffius, III, Atlanta, for appellees.
We granted certiorari in Dodge Trucks, Inc. v. Wilson, 140 Ga.App. 743, 231 S.E.2d 818 (1976), to determine what applicability the general law of Georgia on contribution and indemnity has to an action for breach of warranty under § 2-715(2)(b) of the U.C.C., Code Ann. § 109A-2-715(2)(b) Ga.L.1962, pp. 156, 231).
The buyer, petitioner for certiorari, settled for $26,000 several lawsuits arising out of a collision between an automobile and a Dodge truck owned by the buyer and being driven by its employee. The buyer attempted to "vouch" the dealer and manufacturer of the truck, respondents herein, into the action, but they denied liability and refused to participate. After the settlement, the buyer instituted the present action against the dealer and manufacturer on the ground that defects in the truck constituting the breach of various express and implied warranties were the direct and proximate cause of the accident. The buyer also alleged that the dealer was negligent in failing to inspect and discover the defect and notify the buyer thereof and that the manufacturer was negligent in its manufacture and design of a defective truck.
The trial court granted defendants' motions for summary judgment on the negligence counts and denied their motions for summary judgment on the breach of warranty count.
On interlocutory appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's denial of defendants' motions for summary judgment on the breach of warranty count. The court reasoned that although this was couched as an action for breach of warranty, it was "an action for contribution or indemnity." Therefore, the action could not be maintained in the absence of a judgment against the buyer as the accident occurred prior to the effective date of the sections of the Code abolishing the requirement that a party seeking contribution or indemnity have a judgment rendered against him. See Code Ann. § 20-1206 (Cum.Supp.1976) (Ga.L.1972, p. 134 (Indemnity) and Code Ann. § 105-2012(1) (Cum.Supp.1976) (Ga.L.1966, p. 433; 1972, p. 132) (Contribution).
The buyer states that its breach of warranty action against the manufacturer and dealer was brought under § 2-715(2)(b) of the U.C.C. which provides that, "consequential damages resulting from the seller's breach include injury to person or property proximately resulting from any breach of warranty." The buyer acknowledges that such an action for breach of warranty against the seller, for damages suffered at the hands of some third party, is in effect an action for implied indemnity. Nevertheless, the buyer argues that other provisions of the Georgia Code on Contribution and Indemnity do not affect the rights and remedies of a buyer of goods subject to the sales article of the...
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...(Tex.1978), 572 S.W.2d 320, 328; Kennedy v. City of Sawyer (1980), 228 Kan. 439, 450, 618 P.2d 788, 797; Wilson v. Dodge Trucks, Inc. (1977), 238 Ga. 636, 637, 235 S.E.2d 142, 144.) Thus, under section 2-715 of the Code a buyer may recover only consequential damages proximately caused by th......
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