Court Opinion

ID: 9671229
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 03:33:11.466409+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:08.847067
License: Public Domain

COLEMAN, Justice
(dissenting).
Druid Homes, Inc. v. Cooper, 272 Ala. 415, 131 So.2d 884, was decided by this court June 29, 1961. There, the defendant had appealed from a judgment for plaintiff in an action claiming damages for breach of an agreement “* * * to purchase a house and lot wherein it was implied that the dwelling was of substantial construction and was built in a workmanlike manner. The breach * * * was that the house was not constructed in a workmanlike manner and that water drained from the bathroom facilities and emptied under the house without any drainage, and damage resulted.” (Emphasis supplied.) 272 Ala. at 415, 131 So.2d at 885.
This court said:
“The first argued assignments of error allege error in the overruling of the demurrer to the two counts of the complaint.
“[1] This presents a question of first impression in this state. The question *442may be posed: Is a warranty implied, as a matter of law, in a contract to purchase real estate, that the improvements located thereon were constructed in a good and workmanlike manner?
“The great weight of authority does not support implied warranties in real estate transactions but requires any purported warranties to be in written contractual form. (Emphasis Supplied) 92 C.J.S. Vendor & Purchaser § 578; 55 Am. Jur., Vendor and Purchaser, § 368; Thompson on Real Property, Vol. 8, § 4599. No decision has come to our attention which permitted recovery by the vendee of a house upon the theory of implied warranty.” (272 Ala. at 416, 131 So.2d at 885.)
This court then discussed eleven or more cases in support of its declaration of the law and further said:
“We feel that the rule of the cases cited above is sound, makes for certainty in the field of real estate law, and should prevail in this jurisdiction. Purchasers may protect themselves by express agreement embodied in their deeds, and vendors may be certain of their position as to liability for the condition of premises they have sold. (Emphasis Supplied)
ti ‡
“Since neither count stated a cause of action, it follows that the demurrer to both counts should have been sustained.
“The judgment of the circuit court is reversed and one is here rendered sustaining the demurrer.
“Reversed and rendered. (Emphasis supplied.)”
In 1967, a contractor-builder appealed from a judgment for the owner “ * * * for breach of a contract made with appellees to construct for them in a good and workmanlike manner a dwelling house * * *.” Carter v. West, 280 Ala. 603, 196 So.2d 718. The contractor relied on Druid Homes. This court affirmed the judgment for the owner and said:
“ * * * Huston Carter expressly agreed to build the house in accordance with these specifications. He breached this express agreement. Cases like Druid Homes, Inc., supra, were not intended to indicate that there was no cause of action for the breach of an express agreement to construct improvements on real estate in a workmanlike manner. * * * It should be noted here that the plaintiffs did not sue on an implied warranty, but an express agreement made between them and Huston Carter whereby the latter agreed to build the house in accordance with agreed upon plans and specifications. * * * The contract sued on was not for the sale of land, but was for personal services, to be performed by one party for another. The evidence conclusively shows that the appellant breached this express contract. * * *.” (280 Ala. at 604, 196 So.2d at 720)
In 1969, plaintiffs appealed from a judgment of voluntary nonsuit in an action “for * * * damages for breach of a contract for the purchase of a house built by the Defendant, Joe J. Bedford, Jr., for the Plaintiffs * * *.” Livingston v. Bedford, 284 Ala. 323, 324, 224 So.2d 873. This court affirmed the judgment favorable to defendant and said:
* * Consequently, we hold on authority of Druid Homes, that Count III does not state a cause of action and that the court did not err in sustaining demurrer thereto.” (284 Ala. at 327, 224 So.2d at 876)
In Central Stikstof Verkoopkanter, N. V. v. Walsh Steve. Co., 380 F.2d 523, the United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, affirmed a judgment for defendants, rendered by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama, in a suit for damages to commercial fertilizer stored at the State Docks.
*443Among other things, the Circuit Court said:
“This limitation on the existence of an implied warranty brings the Broyles [Broyles v. Brown Engineering Corp., 275 Ala. 35, 151 So.2d 767] decision in line with the general Alabama rule that an implied warranty can not be inferred as to the same general subject matter covered by an express warranty in the contract. Louis Pizitz Dry Goods Co. v. House of Van Praag, 219 Ala. 183, 121 So. 701 (1929); Grassell [Grasselli] Chem. Co. v. City Ice Co., 200 Ala. 172, 75 So. 920 (1919); Holt Lumber Co. v. Givens, 196 Ala. 640, 72 So. 257 (1915). Thus, for example, it is clearly established that no implied warranty of workmanlike construction exists in the case of the sale of a house, or in similar real estate transactions. Druid Homes, Inc. v. Cooper, 272 Ala. 415, 131 So.2d 884 (1961). Since Walsh’s contract limited its liability for damage to cargo to the physical damage resulting from its negligence, we believe that under applicable Alabama law it is not permissible to draw the inference that Walsh impliedly warranted to perform in a competent and workmanlike manner. * * * .” (380 F.2d at 531)
In 25 ALR 3rd, p. 419, § 6(c), the annotation cites, in addition to Druid Homes, eighteen cases from nine other states, which follow the view that no implied warranties as to condition, quality, or fitness arise in the sale of real estate. The oldest one of the cases thus cited was decided in 1916, the next oldest in 1930, two in 1932, six from 1952 to 1959, and eight from 1961 to 1968. In one of these cases, the Court of Appeals of Maryland said:
“We recognize that as the law of this state stands today except in unusual circumstances there is no implied warranty in the sale of a completed residence and therefore the ruling of the lower court sustaining the defendants’ demurrer must be upheld. We are also cognizant of a trend in some courts to find that an implied warranty exists where houses are mass produced and sold to individual purchasers by a builder-developer. (Citations Omitted) We think that while there is some merit in the newer view that sales of some types of realty should be covered by an implied warranty, similar to the warranty implied in the case of many sales of goods and personal property today, that such a change should be made by the legislature rather than by the courts of this state.” Allen v. Wilkinson, 250 Md. 395, 243 A.2d 515.
In Skelton v. Weaver, 266 Ala. 335, 96 So.2d 288, this court quoted from the dissenting opinion of Judge Collier in Bryant v. Simpson, 3 Stew. 339, 343, as follows :
“ * * * If it be a decision founded in error, it is better to permit communis error facere begun, than to unsettle the law, by disregarding it. I believe with Mr. Jenkins, that ‘variety of judgments and novelty of opinions, are the two great plagues of a commonwealth.’ The decisions of a tribunal of the last resort, should possess permanence and stability of character. They should not be disregarded by the Court that pronounced them, though they may not correctly ascertain the law, unless a greater inconvenience would result from an adherence to them. Next to correctness of decision, nothing is so well calculated to give character to the bench, as a regard for precedent and harmony in its judgments. sjs * * ”
Druid Homes has been the law in Alabama for ten years. The decision is supported by sound reasoning and respectable authority cited in the opinion and 25 ALR 3d 419. This court reaffirmed and followed Druid Homes two years ago, July 3, 1969, in Livingston v. Bedford, supra. I would follow Druid Homes now and reverse the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals in the case at bar.
LAWSON and McCALL, JJ., concur.