LimoLiner, Inc. v. Dattco, Inc.
Opinion
*88
We hold that the plaintiff, LimoLiner, has not met its burden of showing that the defendant repair company's technical violations of the Massachusetts Attorney General's regulations that govern motor vehicle repairs, 940 Mass. Code Regs. § 5.05, caused LimoLiner the loss of any money or property. On that basis, we affirm the Magistrate Judge's holding that the repair company is not liable under Chapter 93A.
LimoLiner, Inc.
v.
Dattco, Inc.
, No. CV 11-11877-JCB,
I.
This lengthy litigation about repair work to a luxury motor coach has already yielded three appellate opinions.
See
LimoLiner, Inc.
v.
Dattco, Inc.
(
LimoLiner I
),
The plaintiff, LimoLiner, Inc., is a Massachusetts corporation that owns and operates a fleet of luxury motor coaches.
LimoLiner
,
In May 2011, LimoLiner met with Dattco to discuss repairs to one of LimoLiner's coaches. Id. at *3. LimoLiner said it wanted the coach repaired "as soon as possible," but did not set a date. Id. Dattco understood that the coach "had been out of service for quite some time." Id.
LimoLiner orally requested that Dattco repair, among other things, the vehicle's "inverter," a device that converts the vehicle's power into a voltage that passengers can use, for instance, to charge their electronic devices. Id. Dattco agreed to make the necessary repairs, including to the inverter. Id. Dattco also provided an oral estimate for the cost of labor, but did not provide an estimate of the cost of parts. Id. at *5.
Dattco, in response to the oral request, made and sent to LimoLiner a list of the requested repairs, but that list did not include specifically repairs to the inverter. Id. at *3. It was unclear whether the inverter would need repair or replacement, and the parties disputed who would be responsible, but the Magistrate Judge found that "the parties agreed that the inverter would be replaced or repaired by Dattco." Id.
Dattco began working on the coach "around June 16, 2011." Id. Dattco timesheets show that its mechanics worked on the inverter on July 19, 2011. Id. The Magistrate Judge found that Dattco continued to work on the inverter in August 2011. Id. at *4.
When a fire destroyed another LimoLiner coach in late June 2011, LimoLiner told Dattco that it needed the coach in Dattco's possession so it was urgent that the repairs be completed quickly. Id. When Dattco had not completed the repairs by August 2011, LimoLiner demanded to know how Dattco would compensate LimoLiner for the monetary losses it claimed it had sustained to that point. Id.
Later that month, Dattco told LimoLiner that the coach was ready to be picked up. Id. at *5. Dattco had worked on the inverter, but it had not yet been totally fixed. Id. Dattco sent LimoLiner an invoice for $10,404 for its labor and for some *89 parts, but not including inverter parts. Id. LimoLiner refused to pay the invoice; Dattco, in turn, refused to return the coach without there being any payment. Id.
In October 2011, LimoLiner sued in Massachusetts Superior Court for breach of contract, misrepresentation, negligence, replevin, and Chapter 93A violations. As to the Chapter 93A claim, LimoLiner alleged that Dattco had engaged in an "unfair or deceptive act[ ] or practice[ ]" by, among other things, failing to record in writing LimoLiner's oral request for inverter work and charging LimoLiner for repairs without written authorization. LimoLiner alleged that these actions were in violation of motor vehicle regulations promulgated by the Massachusetts Attorney General. 940 Mass. Code Regs. § 5.05. Dattco removed the case to federal court and counterclaimed for breach of contract and quantum meruit.
Following a jury-waived trial, the Magistrate Judge found for LimoLiner on the breach of contract claim, but for Dattco on the remaining claims, including the quantum meruit counterclaim.
LimoLiner, Inc.
v.
Dattco, Inc.
, No. CIV.A. 11-11877-JCB,
On appeal, we affirmed the Magistrate Judge's rulings, save for the rulings on the regulatory claim, which we certified to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), asking whether "940 [Mass. Code Regs.] § 5.05 appl[ies] to transactions in which the customer is a business entity."
1
LimoLiner I
,
On remand, the Magistrate Judge found that Dattco had violated two of the Attorney General's motor vehicle regulations: 940 Mass. Code Regs. § 5.05(2)(e) (" Section 5.05(2)(e)") and § 5.05(3) (" Section 5.05(3)").
2
LimoLiner
,
In alternate holdings, the Magistrate Judge found that these regulatory violations did not automatically establish liability under Chapter 93A; 3 LimoLiner still had to show that Dattco's regulatory violations were unfair or deceptive and had *90 failed to do so. Id. at *8. And the Magistrate Judge found explicitly or by implication that LimoLiner had not proved any injury from these violations of regulations. See id. at *8-9, *9 n.8. The Magistrate Judge then denied LimoLiner's motion to alter or amend the judgment.
LimoLiner has appealed, asking for entry of judgment in its favor, not for remand, on its claim that Dattco is liable under Chapter 93A.
II.
Because this case comes to us after a bench trial, we review the Magistrate Judge's legal conclusions de novo and factual findings for clear error.
McDermott
v.
Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, P.C.
,
Chapter 93A makes unlawful "[u]nfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in the conduct of any trade or commerce." Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93A, § 2(a). Section 11 of Chapter 93A "bestows a right of action on '[a]ny person who engages in the conduct of any trade or commerce and who suffers any loss of money or property, real or personal,' as a result of the unfair or deceptive act or practice."
Auto Flat Car Crushers, Inc.
v.
Hanover Ins. Co.
,
A Section 11 plaintiff must show that the defendant's alleged unfair or deceptive method, act, or practice caused a loss of money or property.
See
id.
at 1074-75. "A plaintiff's failure to establish both factual causation and proximate causation is fatal to her Chapter 93A claim."
Walsh
v.
TelTech Sys., Inc.
,
LimoLiner did not show that Dattco's violation of Section 5.05(2)(e) or Section 5.05(3) caused it any loss of money or property. As to Section 5.05(3), the Magistrate Judge found that "LimoLiner [had] presented no evidence that Dattco overcharged for the parts used in the repairs it made."
LimoLiner
,
As to Section 5.05(2)(e), the Magistrate Judge found that Dattco "violated this provision
*91
by failing to record in writing that LimoLiner had requested the inverter to be repaired."
Id.
at *6. It follows from the Magistrate Judge's factual findings that LimoLiner did not show that this regulatory violation caused any injury.
4
As the Magistrate Judge found, even without the inverter being included on the list of requested repairs, Dattco mechanics worked on the inverter in July and August 2011, which is when most of the repair work to the coach took place.
See
id.
at *3-4. And in August, the parties were actively discussing finding an inverter from a supplier,
id.
at *4, so LimoLiner knew that Dattco was working on the inverter even though that part was not listed among the requested repairs. This discussion included "a miscommunication as to who was responsible for supplying the new inverter," which the Magistrate Judge said, "appears to have been" a possible cause of "Dattco's failure to perform the inverter repairs."
Id.
at *8. Against these facts, LimoLiner has produced no evidence, just speculation, that Dattco's failure to record the inverter repair caused LimoLiner any harm. The record permits only one conclusion: there is no proof that Dattco's regulatory violation caused LimoLiner's injury.
See
Pullman-Standard
v.
Swint
,
III.
We affirm. Costs are awarded to Dattco.
LimoLiner did not ask that we certify the question of whether every violation of the motor vehicle regulations was per se a Chapter 93A violation.
Section 5.05(2)(e) states that "[i]t is an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a repair shop, prior to commencing repairs on a customer's vehicle, to fail to record in writing ... [t]he specific repairs requested by the customer." 940 Mass. Code Regs. § 5.05(2)(e). And Section 5.05(3) states that "[i]t is an unfair or deceptive act or practice for a repair shop to charge a customer for any repairs on a customer's motor vehicle" without providing an estimate of the cost of parts necessary to perform the work.
The Magistrate Judge relied on
McDermott
v.
Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks, P.C.
,
Because the Magistrate Judge resolved this case on other grounds, there was no explicit factual finding on this issue.
See
LimoLiner
,
Reference
- Full Case Name
- LIMOLINER, INC., Plaintiff, Appellant, v. DATTCO, INC., Defendant, Appellee.
- Cited By
- 3 cases
- Status
- Published