BARBER GREENE COMPANY AND AETNA CASUALTY & SURETY COMPANY, APPELLANTS,
v.
ANTONIO URBANTES A/K/A JUAN DUQUE TOVAR, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1988-01-06
Nos. 4-86-1323, 4-86-2249
517 So. 2d 768 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1988) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Barber Greene Company appealed a trial court ruling that Florida's statute of repose does not apply to machinery delivered under a lease agreement. The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed, holding that the statute of repose, which bars products liability claims brought more than 12 years after a product is 'sold,' applies only to sales, not leases.


Holding

The statute of repose does not apply to machinery originally delivered under a lease agreement. Although the manufacturer's policy rationale for the statute would apply equally to leased products, the statute's unequivocal language limiting application to 'sold' products precludes such an extension.


Headnotes

[1] A statute of repose, as amended, applies retroactively to cases filed after its enactment, even if the cause of action arose prior to the amendment.

[2] A statute of repose for products liability actions is activated by the original sale of the product, not by a subsequent lease.

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Key Quotes

“An act relating to products liability actions; providing that the liability of a manufacturer or seller of a product be based on the knowledge and technology in existence at the time the product was originally sold....”

The statutory heading emphasizing that the statute of repose applies to 'sold' products, not leased products.

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Facts & Procedural History

Barber Greene manufactured machinery in 1965 and leased it to Urbantes's employer in 1966. The employer purchased the machinery in 1974. Urbantes was …

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Opinion of the Court
LETTS, Judge. ANSTEAD and GUNTHER, JJ., concur.

[*769] LETTS, Judge.

This appeal presents the question of whether the now amended1 statute of repose is applicable to machinery delivered and leased as distinct from delivered and sold. The trial court held the statute is not applicable to a lease. We affirm.

The particular piece of machinery in question was manufactured by the defendant in 1965, leased to the plaintiff’s employer in 1966 and purchased by the employer in 1974. The accident to the plaintiff occurred in 1981.

The initial question to be answered is whether the case of Pullum v. Cincinnati, Inc., 476 So. 2d 657 (Fla.1985), which held that the statute of repose was constitutional should be applied retroactively. Subsequent to the filing of the briefs on appeal, the Supreme Court answered this question in the affirmative in Melendez v. Dreis and Krump Manufacturing Company, 515 So. 2d 735 (Fla.1987). Thus without more, the statute of repose would have applied here, and the plaintiffs claim barred.

However, we believe the statute of repose was inapplicable in the case at bar because this particular piece of machinery was originally delivered under a lease agreement. The trial judge was of the opinion that an actual sale, not merely a lease, must occur to activate the statute and we agree. The head note to Chapter 78-418, Laws of Florida, which became section 95.031, Florida Statutes (1985) stated:

“An act relating to products liability actions; providing that the liability of a manufacturer or seller of a product be based on the knowledge and technology in existence at the time the product was originally sold....” (emphasis supplied) The statute itself states in part:
(2) Actions for products liability and fraud under s. 95.11(3) must be begun within the period prescribed in this chapter, with the period running from the time the facts giving rise to the cause of action were discovered or should have been discovered with the exercise of due diligence instead of running from any date prescribed elsewhere in s. 95.11(3), but in any event within 12 years after the date of delivery of the completed product to its original purchaser or within 12 years after the date of the commission of the alleged fraud, regardless of the date the defect in the product or the fraud was or should have been discovered, (emphasis supplied)

Similarly, the Melendez case contains the following language:

Section 95.031(2), Florida Statutes (1983), was a statute of repose which precluded actions based on products liability if they were bought more than twelve years after the product was sold.

515 So. 2d at 736.

We agree with the manufacturer that the raison d’etre for the statute should apply with equal force to manufactured products delivered under a lease, especially so when, as here, the employer eventually purchased the machinery. However, the wording of the statute is unequivocal and we decline to interpret it otherwise.

The manufacturer also argues that the lease was not really a lease and was in effect part and parcel of a sale disguised as a lease for corporate purposes. We have examined the written agreement presented as part of the record and find no support for such a conclusion within its four corners. On the contrary, the document provides that “there are no agreements or representations, oral or otherwise, outside of this lease.” It further provides that “the lessee agrees that the equipment is to be returned ... to the lessor’s storage yard at Aurora, Illinois ... upon expiration of the rental period.” This cause is affirmed.

AFFIRMED.

ANSTEAD and GUNTHER, JJ., concur. . Section 95.031(2), Florida Statutes (1985), amended by section 95.031(2), Florida Statutes (Supp.1986).


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Citator

Cited By

  • Cassoutt v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 742 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)
    …e statutory provision under consideration. Holly v. Auld, 450 So. 2d 217 (Fla.1984). Further, the statute, being one of limitation, mandates a strict or conservative construction rather than a liberal construction. See Barber Greene Co. v. Urbantes, 517 So. 2d 768 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). From a plain reading of the statute, we conclude that the replacement seat rails are “completed products” for the purpose of tolling the statute. These seat rails are manufactured as replacement components for the aircraft mode…
  • McELROY v. The Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., 894 F.2d 1504 (11th Cir. 1990)
    …able, after all, that the entities to which Firestone initially sold the components involved in this case were, literally speaking, the “original purchasers.” We find support for a strict construction of the statute in Barber Greene Co. v. Urbantes, 517 So. 2d 768 (Fla.App.1988), where the court addressed the applicability of the statute of repose to a piece of machinery leased to the plaintiffs employer sixteen years before the accident suffered by the plaintiff, but actually purchased only seven years befor…

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