Opinion ID: 2022392
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: ellerbe & company, inc.

Text: 1-2. It is the contention of 3M that Ellerbe & Company, Inc., is liable because it failed to design lockers which were safe for use under the circumstances described to it. Ellerbe & Company, Inc., on the other hand, contends that it did design safe lockers but that 3M, without its knowledge or consent, deviated from the type of locker it designed and specified and, on its own responsibility, purchased a different type of locker. The record shows that 16-gauge steel is approximately two and one-half times as heavy as 24-gauge steel. A bank of 15 lockers, all of which were bolted together, designed as specified by Ellerbe & Company, Inc., would weigh 1,077 pounds, whereas the lockers purchased weighed 818 pounds. Most of this additional weight would be on the back of the lockers so that the center of gravity would be farther back than it was on the lockers purchased, which would make the lockers much less likely to tip forward. There is evidence that the lockers, even as designed, would not have the desired margin of safety, but there is also much evidence to the contrary. In addition to a deviation from the specifications as to the type of steel to be used, shop drawings were not furnished as the architect provided. Shop drawings are detailed plans prepared and furnished by the manufacturer, and these drawings would have disclosed the type of steel used throughout these lockers. Ellerbe contends that failure to furnish such shop drawings prevented it from ascertaining that there had been a departure from its specifications. It seems clear to us that the jury's verdict is amply sustained by the evidence. The jury could find that Ellerbe & Company, Inc., designed and specified a locker safe for the use for which it was intended; that Ellerbe was under no duty to inspect the installation of the lockers unless requested to do so and that no such request was made; that independently 3M purchased lockers of a different type than those specified; and that the lockers purchased were not safe for use in the manner intended. The jury could further find that 3M was required to furnish shop drawings of the equipment purchased, which it failed to do, and that Ellerbe thereby was deprived of the opportunity of discovering the departure from the specifications. Under these circumstances, it must follow that Ellerbe & Company, Inc., is not liable. Where an architect is retained to design a piece of equipment suitable and safe for use under circumstances described to him and he does design equipment safe for use under those circumstances, he cannot be held liable where the one for whom the equipment is designed takes it upon himself to depart from the specifications and installs other equipment not safe for such use, in the absence of a duty on the part of the architect to inspect the installation of the equipment.