Opinion ID: 2069153
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: high service pumps

Text: The allowance of damages in the amount of $9,500 on account of defects in the design of the high service pumps presents more difficult problems. The trial court found: The function of the three high service pumps is to distribute the clear water to the elevated storage tank for distribution to consumers. The high service pump equipment, as designed by defendants, causes sudden surges with consequent water hammer, resulting in blowing out of lead seal joints. Both defendants Ruble and Miller testified that good engineering practice and standards required that as engineers they should design the plant in such manner as not to destroy or damage the existing water transmission and distribution system. Although defendants had knowledge of the age of the existing transmission line and its leaded joints, they negligently designed the valves on the high service pumps. The installation of electric check valves, in addition to pressure relief valves, will permit a very gradual acceleration of the water column and corresponding reduction in the pump starting surge. The reasonable cost of installing electric check valves and pressure relief valves is the sum of $9,500.00. We find nothing in the contract between the City and the Engineer which could be construed as an express or implied commitment [10] that the City's transmission lines would be trouble-free following the installation of the new facility. The distribution lines, buried in the ground, were 3 miles in length. They had been in use for approximately 60 years. In our judgment, it would not be reasonable to expect the Engineer to guarantee the performance of these lines under these circumstances. The liability found by the trial court was not based on breach of contract. The design of the valves and the high service pumps was found to be negligent. This finding of damage caused by negligence on the part of the Engineer implies that the Engineer was under a duty to ascertain the pressure-bearing capacity of the distribution system and that his failure to do so made the design of the safety valves defective for failure to keep the pressure exerted by the high service pumps within the pressure-bearing capacity of the lines. In our judgment, the opinions of experts qualified in the field are needed on the technical questions involved in this finding. It is possible that the fact that the transmission lines were made up of sections of cast-iron pipe with leaded joints in use for approximately 60 years would have been sufficient to put an engineer possessed of the requisite professional skills upon notice that the line would fail unless pressure-controlling devices on the high service pumps were specified. It is possible that there are methods for testing the pressure-bearing capacity of lines laid in the ground which would have been employed by engineers of the requisite skill in the community; and that, had these testing techniques been employed, weaknesses in the line would have been discovered and the damage incurred avoided by appropriate design specifications. But what these tests might be and what they might have been expected to disclose, and whether the expense of such tests would be proportionate to the risk of failure to be apprehendedthese are questions which remain unanswered in the record and, we believe, require the opinions of experts in the field. [11] If ruptures in the line had not occurred before the reconstruction of the system and had occurred immediately and continuously thereafter, it would be reasonable to find a causal relationship between the alleged negligent design of the pumps and the damage experienced. And in the absence of some other explanation of the events so associated in time, it would be possible for the trier of fact to find the one to be the proximate cause of the other. [12] But, accepting this as established, the question remains: Would a design engineer, in the exercise of that degree of care, skill, and diligence to be expected from this profession, knowing the line pressures which would be created by the operation of the high service pumps and knowing the age of the line and the character of its construction, have reasonably anticipated that it would fail in use? If uncertain, would he have employed tests or techniques of inspection which could have been employed and which would have been employed by a design engineer applying the requisite standards of skill and care which should have revealed the deficiencies in the line? If not, would such an engineer, being unable to ascertain the facts, have recommended the installation of devices such as those now recommended as a precaution against possible but unpredictable ruptures? We do not think that common knowledge affords answers to these questions. It is our conclusion that the question of damages attributable to alleged defects in design of the high service pumps should be remanded to the trial court for further consideration upon the evidence which has been submitted and upon such additional expert opinion evidence as may be afforded by experts bearing specifically upon these questions: (1) Would a design engineer exercising that degree of care, skill, and diligence to be expected of like professionals under the circumstances have anticipated or measured the pressure-bearing capacity of the distribution line constituting part of the city's water system? (2) If so, would weaknesses in the line have been anticipated or discovered? And (3) if so, would a design engineer exercising the requisite degree of skill and care have specified pressure-control devices on the high service pumps of the type now recommended? If, on the basis of the expert testimony tendered, the district court is of the opinion that answers to these questions should be in the affirmative and that the standard of care was shown, by expert testimony, to have been violated, then the amount allowed in damages, under the circumstances of this particular case, is consistent with the applicable rules for damages ascertainment. If, after hearing the opinion of experts on the subject, the trial court is of the opinion that these questions cannot be answered affirmatively, the award of damages in the amount of $9,500 should be vacated.