Opinion ID: 1185824
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: waiver instruction

Text: Defendant's final contention is that the trial court committed prejudicial error in giving Instruction 20, which reads as follows: Where it is difficult to determine whether a particular act merely sheds light on the meaning of the agreement or represents a waiver of a term of the agreement, the preference is in favor of waiver. Thus even if you find that the plaintiff on occasion did not charge the defendant for certain repairs or gave the defendant credit for downtime, the preferred interpretation of such action is that the plaintiff waived its claim against the defendant for those repairs and downtime not charged for rather than the interpretation of such action constitutes a course of performance which indicates an intent not to charge the defendant for any downtime or for any repairs. Defendant argues two points in support of its contention of error: First, that the instruction is in effect a directed verdict on the issue of waiver, and second, that it is an inaccurate statement of the law. We do not agree that the instruction constitutes a directed verdict on the issue of waiver. The instruction did not withhold from the jury consideration whether plaintiffs made some repairs at no cost to defendant and gave defendant credit for downtime. Furthermore, the instruction did not require a finding that such past practices in fact constituted a waiver of plaintiff's contractual rights as opposed to a course of dealing affecting subsequent repair charges. The first sentence of the instruction, which states the rule giving preference to a finding of waiver, is an accurate but incomplete quote from Official Comment No. 3 to § 2-208 of the Uniform Commercial Code, adopted in this State as the Utah Uniform Commercial Code, § 70A-2-208. [2] The second sentence applies that rule of interpretation to the facts of the present case. Although defendant challenged the accuracy of the instruction in taking exception to it, defendant did not specify the error claimed. Defendant's appeal on this issue must therefore fail in light of the rule stated in Nelson v. Tanner, 113 Utah 293, 194 P.2d 468 (1948), as follows: It is well settled in this jurisdiction that if a part of an instruction is correct, and a part erroneous[,] an exception to the whole of the instruction is not well taken. The party taking the exception must specifically except to that part of the instruction which he deems erroneous. If he assigns as error the whole of the instruction, his assignment will be held not well taken if any part of the instruction is good. [113 Utah at 296; 194 P.2d at 470.] The defendant in this appeal has sought review of the evidence received and heard by a jury in the course of a nine-day trial. Defendant would have this Court substitute its judgment for that of the jury and the trial judge who denied defendant's post-trial motions. Our review of the record and the evidence found therein that supports the verdict of the jury leads to the conclusion that the defendant received a full and fair trial and that the jury verdict was based on relevant, competent, and admissible evidence. Defendant has not shown any prejudicial error in the proceedings. Affirmed. Costs to Respondents. CROCKETT, C.J., HALL, J., and MAURICE HARDING, Retired District Judge, concur. MAUGHAN, J., does not participate herein; HARDING, Retired District Judge, sat. WILKINS, J., does not participate.