Opinion ID: 393715
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Plant Production

Text: 33 ViCon says CMI falsely represented, through its advertising literature (specifically its dryer specification sheet) and the oral representations of its salesmen, that its asphalt plant would produce 200 tons of asphalt per hour. 34 CMI denies making any misrepresentations concerning plant production capabilities and says that neither the dryer sheet nor its salesmen's oral representations establish the claimed misrepresentation. Because the dryer sheet refers only to dryer capacity not total production, CMI says ViCon's reliance thereon is misplaced. Assuming arguendo that the dryer sheet relates to total plant production, CMI says ViCon introduced no evidence that the dryer did not perform as represented. 35 It is undisputed that the plant achieved an average production rate of only 145 tons per hour. The Master found the average moisture content of the aggregate used to have been 6%, a level at which the dryer sheet states it will dry 184-244 tons per hour. That finding was based on two written reports of moisture tests conducted by an independent testing inspector showing: (1) a 6.47% moisture content on the day following a 1.16 inch rainfall and (2) a 4.94% moisture content, a month and a half later and on the inspector's deposition testimony that in numerous other unrecorded tests, the moisture content never exceeded 6%. Though CMI urges that the Master erred in relying on this testimony, its only attempt at rebuttal was through its own chief engineer who testified, based on his calculations of ViCon's average fuel consumption for one of its jobs over a 6 month period, that the average moisture content was 10%. That testimony was subsequently discredited: 36 Q. So your ten percent moisture that you come up with is a result that you wanted to reach rather than what your own calculations showed it to be, isn't that correct? 37 A. That's right. 38 Moreover, CMI's own tests in November, 1973 showed an aggregate with a moisture content of 4.2%. CMI urges that asphalt production is a function of variables other than dryer efficiency, such as cycle time 8 and hauling efficiency, 9 but there is no evidence that those factors significantly affected the average hourly production rate of the plant. In fact, CMI states in its advertising literature that the drying process is at the heart of efficient asphalt production and that while all components of an asphalt plant affect its production, the most common bottleneck is dryer performance. 39 Regarding oral representations, CMI says that if Jones represented plant production to be 200 tons per hour, ViCon is not entitled to rely thereon because Mann knew that Jones was not aware of all the variables involved in ViCon's asphalt production. Again, CMI's difficulty lies in the absence from the record of evidence to support its position. To the contrary, CMI's own witnesses testified at trial that its general advertising is designed to create in prospective purchasers certain expectations regarding the product and that such purchasers have a right to rely on its representations. 40 Finally, CMI contends that because ViCon's records show that the plant did produce at a rate of 200 tons per hour on 15 of the 477 production days, approximately 3% of the time, the plant had that inherent capacity and its representation was therefore true. CMI's contention is disingenuous. Judge Nixon found that CMI's production representations related to sustained rates of production, and that finding is amply supported by the evidence of record. That the plant operated at 200 tons per hour on 3% of its production days is no indication that the plant was capable of sustained performance at that rate. In fact, substantial evidence established that the plant was not capable of such sustained performance. 41