Opinion ID: 1372053
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: trial court's instructions

Text: At trial, the Court instructed the jury: You are instructed that Ernest W. Hahn, Inc., the contractor on the Fashion Place Mall project, and the plaintiff, Ernest W. Hahn, Inc., for and on behalf of Fashion Place Associates, are one and the same entity, and that the negligence of the contractor, Ernest W. Hahn, Inc., if any, is the negligence of the plaintiff. Ernest W. Hahn, Inc., served as both general partner of the limited partnership, Fashion Place Associates, and as construction contractor of the project. When suit was filed in December, 1973, the complaint designated the plaintiff only as Fashion Place Associates, a Limited Partnership. The pleadings were later amended to include Hahn, acting for and on behalf of the limited partnership. The other general partner, Lester R. Giegerich, for and on behalf of Western Properties Co., a limited partnership, acquired its interest in Fashion Place Associates after the collapse; and this general partner's name did not appear on the pleadings until 1975. Plaintiff now claims that this instruction was erroneous as a matter of fact and of law. In view of our holding as to available defenses to strict products liability in this jurisdiction, and their non-application in this case, however, it matters not whether Hahn's alleged negligence is the negligence of plaintiff. Hence, we do not reach this claim of error.