H. Russell Taylor’s Fire Prevention Service, Inc. v. Coca Cola Bottling Corporation
California Court of Appeal
99 Cal. App. 3d 711 (1979)
H. Russell Taylor's Fire Prevention Service (Taylor) (plaintiff) supplied Coca Cola Bottling Corporation (Coca Cola) (defendant) with fire-extinguisher carbon-dioxide cylinders under an oral agreement; after the agreement ended, Coca Cola failed to return 246 of the cylinders despite Taylor's demand. Taylor sued and amended its complaint to waive its tort conversion claim and instead proceed in assumpsit on an implied-in-law contract theory; the trial court applied the four-year contract statute of limitations under the California Commercial Code, finding the suit timely, rather than the three-year tort limitations period, under which the suit would have been late. Coca Cola appealed.
Whether the statute of limitations for a contract action is applicable to a suit where the plaintiff waives a tort action and proceeds on the basis of an implied-in-law contract.