Court Opinion

ID: 9768225
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:51:19.362246+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:38.336753
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON PETITION TO REHEAR
The plaintiff-respondents have filed a petition to rehear in this case, contending that the court’s opinion overlooks two matters: (1) trial judge’s error in failing to give a proper jury instruction on the law of contributory negligence, and (2) the plaintiffs’ insistence that this court should adopt and apply an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose to the realty in question here.
These matters were not overlooked by the court, but were considered inapplicable to this case. As to the first issue, the record fails to indicate that the jury charge was incorrect, nor do we find that the matter was properly brought before this court. As to the second issue, the plaintiffs concede that Tennessee is not among those jurisdictions which recognize and apply an implied warranty to the sale of realty. But even if we were to reverse our previous position on this question, an implied warranty of habitability would not be applicable to this case, because the disputed issue involved a problem with the land itself, and not with the dwelling situated on it. Since there is no allegation in the record that the house was defective in any way, or unfit for habitation, there would be no liability on the part of the builder-vendor under an implied warranty theory.
As the defendants point out in their brief, Tennessee law recognizes that a vendor “is not required to exercise care to disclose dangerous conditions or to have an ordinarily retentive memory as to their existence, unless the condition is one which . an inspection by the vendee would not discover or, although the condition would be so discovered, the vendor realizes the risk involved therein and has reason to believe [the] vendee will not realize it.” Belote v. Memphis Development Co., 208 Tenn. 434, 346 S.W.2d 441, 443 (1961). It was just this sort of question of fact that was considered by the jury in this case and resolved in the defendants’ favor. As we pointed out in our opinion, there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the jury’s decision.
The petition to rehear is denied.
BROCK, C. J., and COOPER, HENRY and HARBISON, JJ., concur.