Court Opinion

ID: 9737983
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:39:11.026325+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:02.996734
License: Public Domain

WOLLMAN, Justice
(concurring in part and dissenting in part).
Although I agree that the jury’s finding that Chrysler had breached its warranty should be affirmed, I do not believe that SDCL 57-8-50 is applicable to this case.
“There are probably relatively few situations where a remedy can fail of its essential purpose. Section 2-719(2) (SDCL 57-8-50) will probably be called into action most often in cases like Riley [v. Ford Motor Co., 5 Cir., 442 F.2d 670] when the exclusive remedy involves replacement or repair of defective parts, and the seller because of his negligence in repair or because the goods are beyond repair, is unable to put the goods in warranted condition. * * *” J. White and R. Summers, Handbook of the Law Under the Uniform Commercial Code, Sec. 12-10, p. 382.
Instruction No. 8, to which defendant made no objection, fixed the measure of damages as the difference between the actual value of the automobile at the time of delivery to the *623plaintiff and the value the automobile would have had if the warranty had been complied with. This instruction was presumably based upon SDCL 57-8-37 (U.C.C. 2-714(2)). Under this measure of damages, the cost of repair is of great significance.
“The 2-714(2) formula (difference between the value of goods as accepted and the value of goods as warranted) is essentially the same as the pre-Code formula. A useful objective measurement of the difference in value as is and as warranted is the cost of repair. Thus, if a buyer accepts a truck with a defective radiator, a good measure of the difference between the value of the truck as warranted and its value as delivered is the price of a new radiator less the value of the faulty one.” J. White and R. Summers, supra, Sec. 10-2, p. 308. (footnote omitted)
The verdict is clearly excessive. Plaintiff offered no probative evidence of value other than to give his opinion that the car was worth only $500 to him. There was competent evidence introduced by defendant to show that the entire transmission could have been replaced for approximately $400. For all of plaintiffs complaining about the motor, the mechanic who worked on the car at Willrodt Motors in Chamberlain testified that the car ran well after he had worked on it in February of 1972. One of the service men at Ryan Motors in Sioux Falls testified that after the manifold bolts had been tightened the engine “was quiet and run like a clock.”
I would reverse and remand for a new trial on the issue of damages.