Central Washington Refrigeration, Inc. v. Barbee
Supreme Court of Washington
946 P.2d 760 (1997)
Central Washington Refrigeration (Central) (plaintiff) installed cold-storage rooms for an orchard, using refrigeration coils it bought from McCormack Engineering (defendant). The cold-storage system had problems, and the orchard defaulted on its payments to Central and countersued for damages. More than four and a half years after McCormack delivered the coils, Central settled with the orchard and, at the same time, filed a third-party claim against McCormack seeking indemnity or contribution, arguing defective coils caused the orchard's damages. The trial court and court of appeals held Central's claim was barred by the UCC's four-year statute of limitations, measured from the date the coils were delivered.
Whether the statute of limitations on an indemnity claim begins to run when the party seeking indemnity pays damages to a third party, rather than when the underlying goods were delivered.