Spencer Fane attorneys Richard Lageson and Thomas Hayde were recently successful in defending American Piping Products (APP) against a $6 million lawsuit. After a federal judge granted the Spencer Fane Motion to Dismiss the plaintiffs’ complaint for failing to state valid claims, the plaintiffs dropped the suit.
Judge Jean Hamilton, Senior U.S. District Judge, dismissed the complaint on grounds that APP’s standard terms and conditions precluded the plaintiffs’ claims, including claims based on implied warranties arising under the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).
“We were confident that we would prevail in court because we met our obligations to our customer,” Al Rheinnecker, APP’s CEO, said in an email to the St. Louis Business Journal.
This result underscores the critical importance for firms manufacturing or selling goods to work with their counsel to make sure key terms and conditions, such as disclaimers of warranties, are properly included in their contracts so that courts will give them their intended effect. Otherwise, firms may face lengthy and costly legal battles with significant potential exposure for damages, even for uses that are not recommended by the manufacturer.
You can read the entire St. Louis Business Journal article here.