 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
S Development Company v. Pima Capital Management Co.8/30/2001
ants moved for summary judgment arguing that the "as is" provisions in the purchase contracts relieved them of any duty to disclose the defective plumbing, even if they had actual knowledge of the condition. The trial court denied the appellants' summary judgment motion and the case proceeded to trial. The trial court granted the appellants' motion for judgment as a matter of law on the appellees' punitive damages claim after the case-in-chief, but denied the appellants' motions for judgment as a matter of law on the other causes of action after the close of all of the evidence, and after the jury rendered its verdict. The trial court also denied the appellants' motion for a new trial and motion to alter or amend the judgment. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the appellants on the fraud claim, but awarded the appellees $3,690,000 in damages on the nondisclosure claim. The appellants timely appealed. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) § 12-2101(B) and (F)(1) (1994).
ISSUES
The appellants raise the following issues on appeal:
1. Whether the trial court erred by denying the appellants' motion for judgment as a matter of law in light of the purchase contracts' "as is" clauses;
2. Whether the trial court erred by refusing to give an instruction on the legal effect of an "as is" clause;
3. Whether the trial court erred by instructing the jury that the appellants could have imputed knowledge of the defective plumbing;
4. Whether the trial court erred by precluding evidence of repairs made to the defective plumbing paid for by settlement proceeds from the plumbing manufacturer;
5. Whether the trial court erred by precluding evidence of the appellants' offer to rescind the purchase contracts;
6. Whether the trial court erred by refusing to give the jury an avoidable consequences instruction; and
7. Whether sufficient evidence supported the jury's consequential damages award.
DISCUSSION
I. The "As Is" Provisions and the Appellants' Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law
The appellees' claim for nondisclosure is predicated on the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 551 (1977). The appellees devote much of their brief to refute the appellants' argument that the "as is" clauses in the purchase contracts relieve them of tort liability for nondisclosure. The appellants are not, however, arguing that the insertion of the "as is" clauses in the purchase contracts relieves them, as a matter of law, of all tort liability for nondisclosure. Rather, they argue that the "as is" clauses pertain only to one element of the tort of nondisclosure-the duty element.
Section 551 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts places the burden on a plaintiff who claims that a defendant negligently failed to disclose facts basic to the transaction:
(1) One who fails to disclose to another a fact that he knows may justifiably induce the other to act or refrain from acting in a business transaction is subject to the same liability to the other as though he had represented the nonexistence of the matter that he has failed to disclose, if, but only if, he is under a duty to the other to exercise reasonable care to disclose the matter in question.
Restatement (Second) of Torts § 551(1) (emphasis added). The appellants do not dispute that the appellees argued, and the jury was instructed, that the appellants' duty to disclose arose under § 551(2)(e) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, which provides as follows:
(2) One party to a business transaction is under a duty to exercise reasonable care to di
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Arizona Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|