606 A.2d 1006 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1991
The plaintiff, Hoboken Wood Flooring Corporation, has sued the defendant, Torrington Supply Company, Inc., alleging that Torrington sold it a water heater that ruptured, causing substantial property damage. Other defendants are also being sued, but the plaintiff's claims against them are not involved in the present decision. Torrington Supply is the only defendant involved in this decision.
The revised complaint as it relates to the defendant is in four counts. The wording of these counts is prolix, probably unnecessarily so, but the claims being made are reasonably clear. The first count alleges that the heater was defective and that the defendant is liable to the plaintiff pursuant to General Statutes §
The defendant has now moved to strike the second, third, and fourth counts on the ground that they fail to state claims on which relief may be granted. The defendant more specifically claims that those counts allege causes of action that may not be pursued in a complaint setting forth a products liability claim. For the reasons that follow, the motion to strike must be denied.
General Statutes §
The defendant's argument against the fourth count, claiming reckless disregard, is easily dismissed. That count, when combined with the prayer for relief, plainly sets forth a claim for punitive damages pursuant to §
The defendant's argument against the second count, while somewhat more plausible, must be dismissed as well. That count makes specific allegations of negligence but concludes with an allegation that the defendant is "liable under C.G.S. Sec.
The third count of the revised complaint is the most problematic, for it does not exclusively present a product liability allegation. Rather, that count alleges that the defendant is a merchant within the meaning of the Uniform Commercial Code and that it is "liable to the plaintiff in accordance with C.G.S. Sec.
Winslow involved a products liability claim that had been joined with common law causes of action and did not discuss the propriety of joining products liability claims with independent statutory causes of action. At the same time, however, the rationale of Winslow is absolutely clear. The products liability act "was intended to be the exclusive remedy for those persons injured by an allegedly defective product." (Emphasis added.) Winslow v. Lewis-Shepard, Inc., supra, 469. Under this rationale, a product liability claim cannot be joined with any other cause of action, common law or statutory.
In spite of this fact, however, the language of the third count claiming that the defendant is liable under §
The plaintiff's complaint against the defendant has a much deeper structural problem not mentioned by the defendant. The complaint is stated in multiple counts. It is clear from the legislative history set forth in Winslow that the legislature intended all product liability claims to constitute a single cause of action; Winslow v. Lewis-Shepard, Inc., supra, 469-70, and a complaint setting forth a single cause of action "should be confined to a single count." Goodrich v. Stanton,
The motion to strike is denied.