Court Opinion

ID: 9680382
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:31:16.525306+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:28.372184
License: Public Domain

STEPHENS, Justice.
This appeal is from a summary judgment denying relief in a suit to revoke a purchaser’s acceptance of a pleasure boat purchased thirty months prior to his notice of revocation. Revocation was sought under the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code, section 2.608. The sole question presented on appeal is whether the determination that the passage of time between the date of purchase and the date of revocation of acceptance is reasonable, as required by section 2.608, is a question of fact or of law. We conclude that it is a question of fact, and consequently we reverse and remand.
Richard Purnell purchased a pleasure boat from Thompson Marine on June 9, 1977, by paying a down payment and executing a retail installment contract in favor of Thompson Marine, reflecting the total unpaid balance of $22,791.20. On the same day, Thompson Marine assigned the retail installment contract to Guaranty Bank. After the assignment, and prior to his notice of revocation, Purnell paid about $6,354.00 on the contract. On January 7, 1980, Purnell gave Guaranty his notice of revocation of acceptance. Thompson Marine apparently became a bankrupt subsequent to its assignment of Purnell’s installment contract and prior to Purnell’s notice of revocation to Guaranty, and thus was not made a party defendant to Purnell’s suit. In his complaint, Purnell alleged that subsequent to purchase, he discovered defects in the boat which rendered it unfit for its intended purpose and upon notification, *359Thompson Marine refused to fix the defects in the boat or rescind the contract of sale.
Guaranty answered Purnell’s suit and counterclaimed, seeking recovery for the unpaid balance of the installment contract, together with its attorneys’ fees. Guaranty then filed its motion for summary judgment, alleging that Purnell’s delay of thirty months in giving his notice of revocation was unreasonable as a matter of law. The trial court granted Guaranty’s motion for summary judgment.
Purnell’s single point of error on appeal contends that the question of his timeliness in giving notice of revocation of acceptance is a question of fact, precluding summary judgment. We agree. Tex.Bus. & Com. Code Ann. § 2.608 provides that a buyer may revoke his acceptance of goods under certain circumstances, and contains this language as to the timeliness of revocation:
2.608(b) Revocation of acceptance must occur within a reasonable time after the buyer discovers or should have discovered the ground for it ...
The words “reasonable time” as used in section 2.608(b) in and of themselves express the existence of a fact. Sylvester v. Watkins, 538 S.W.2d 827 (Tex.Civ.App.-Amarillo 1976, writ ref’d n. r. e.). See also Modular Technology Corporation, Metal Board Division v. City of Lubbock, 529 S.W.2d 273 (Tex.Civ.App.-Amarillo 1975, writ ref’d n. r. e.) (Commercial reasonableness under § 2.311 is a fact question). Moreover, section 1.204(b) of the Code provides that:
(b) What is a reasonable time for taking any action depends on the nature, purpose and circumstances of such action.
In our case we have the undisputed time of sale and the lapse of thirty months before notice of revocation, and although we do not have before us proof of the specific facts and circumstances which provoked the act of revocation, Purnell’s complaint raised the fact issue of the timeliness of revocation. In the case of Sylvester v. Watkins, supra, it was held that the criterion is not when the act occurs, but whether, under all of the circumstances, the notice of revocation is given within a reasonable time after the condition giving rise to the revocation is discovered, or should have been discovered. Other jurisdictions have held that what constitutes a reasonable time for revocation is a question of fact. See Dopieralla v. Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company, 255 Ark. 150, 499 S.W.2d 610, 611 (1973); Birkner v. Purdon, 27 Mich.App. 476, 183 N.W.2d 598, 601 (1970). Also see 1) Anderson, Uniform Commercial Code, § 1-204:4; 2) Anderson, Uniform Commercial Code, § 2-608:9.
We hold that the mere lapse of thirty months is not, as a matter of law, an unreasonable time to revoke acceptance of goods as permitted by section 2.608. The facts and circumstances giving rise to the revocation must also be considered. Consequently, to prevail on summary judgment in defense of such plea, the movant has the burden to negate the existence of facts or circumstances which would excuse the delay.
Guaranty argues that Purnell’s affidavit in opposition to the motion for summary judgment contains mere conclusions of law rather than factual statements and thus should not be considered. This argument is without merit because even without any opposing affidavit, Guaranty’s summary judgment proof would fail to negate the existence of the fact issue. Guaranty’s burden, in its motion for summary judgment, was to prove as a matter of law that no genuine issue of material fact existed. City of Houston v. Clear Creek Basin Authority, 589 S.W.2d 671 (Tex.1979); Swilley v. Hughes, 488 S.W.2d 64 (Tex.1972); Gibbs v. General Motors Corporation, 450 S.W.2d 827 (Tex.1970); Gaines v. Hamman, 163 Tex. 618, 358 S.W.2d 557 (Tex.1962). As was held in City of Houston v. Clear Creek Basin Authority, supra, the non-movant’s failure to answer does not supply by default the summary judgment proof necessary to establish the movant’s right to summary judgment.
Thus we conclude that Guaranty failed to establish that as a matter of law, no genuine issue of material fact existed.
Reversed and remanded.