Empire Bucket, Inc. v. Contractors Cargo Co.

In action in which jury found that defendant breached contract to pay full contract price for steel railcar deck manufactured by plaintiff, even though said deck sustained fracture, Dist. Ct. did not commit reversible error in granting plaintiff’s motion in limine to exclude any reference to “Charpy impact test” performed on deck, where parties’ contract did not specify any Charpy toughness criteria. While defendant contended that evidence of Charpy test was relevant on its counterclaims for breaches of implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for particular purpose to show that weld material used at location of inclusion had low fracture toughness, any error was harmless, where defendant’s experts were repeatedly allowed to testify that material in location of inclusion was brittle. As such, proposed evidence about Charpy test would not have affected outcome of trial.