Kenney v. Watts Regulator Co.

512 F.Supp.3d 565

Thomas KENNEY

v.WATTS REGULATOR CO.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 20-2995

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

Filed January 11, 2021

Kevin M. Kelly, De Luca Levine LLC, Blue Bell, PA, for Thomas Kenney.

Vincent M. Roskovensky, Clark Hill PLC, Pittsburgh, PA, for Watts Regulator Co.

MEMORANDUM

KEARNEY, District Judge

A homeowner periodically maintaining his sixteen-year old home's plumbing but entirely unaware of the home's water pressure regulator sued the manufacturer and designer of an allegedly defective pressure regulator installed in 2002 which failed in November 2018 causing water to leak from pipes breaking off from a second floor toilet and, a couple days later, a first floor toilet. The manufacturer claims the homeowner (an aerospace engineer) overtightened fittings on the toilets’ ballcock nuts causing them to fracture and dislodge the water lines connected to the toilets. The homeowner claims manufacturing and design defect in the water pressure regulator failed to stop increased water pressure to the toilets leading to the disconnected pipes and water damage. He also seeks to impose liability for failure to warn and breach of warranty. Both sides immediately retained consultants and now experts.

The manufacturer now moves to preclude the homeowner's expert opinions and for summary judgment. We agree the homeowner adduced no evidence of his reliance on alleged warnings nor evidence of a breach of warranty. His expert cannot opine as to the sufficiency of warnings the homeowner never knew. But the homeowner may proceed to trial with his expert opinions as to genuine issues of material fact, particularly causation, relating to an alleged design defect in the water pressure regulator possibly causing substantial property damage. The factfinder will have the benefit of evaluating expert opinions in resolving what caused this loss.

I. Adduced Facts.¹

Mary Elizabeth Dauphinais purchased a newly built home in 2002.² She later married aerospace engineer Thomas Kenney, and he moved into her home in 2011.³ Their home has five bathrooms: three on the second floor, one on the first floor, and one in the basement.⁴ The property has several appliances or fixtures through which water flows, including five toilets, two tubs, nine sinks, a dishwasher, a refrigerator with water filtration, two HVAC units, a sprinkler system, some hose bibs and a water heater.⁵

Unbeknownst to the Kenneys, their home included a 2002 Watts Series N35B ¾ inch Pressure Regulating Valve (the "Watts PRV") in the basement to regulate the water pressure flowing into the home.⁶ Water pressure is measured in pounds per square inch, or "psi." The initial water pressure flowing to a residence, which the municipal water company controls, typically ranges between 80 to 150 psi.⁷ The International Association of Plumbing & Mechanical Officials Uniform Plumbing Code requires homeowners to keep the water pressure in a home below 80 psi through a pressure-regulating valve.⁸ The Watts PRV is designed to handle up to 400 psi of initial pressure and has an adjustment screw, which allows a homeowner to set the psi in their home within a 25 to 75 psi range.⁹ Although the Watts PRV should be able to handle initial pressure levels of 400 psi, initial levels exceeding 180 psi are considered abnormally high, and a Watts PRV exposed to these levels may require additional maintenance and inspection.¹⁰ The Watts PRV's installation and maintenance instructions advise in an outlined text box in bold and contrasting typeface, "Annual inspection of all water system safety and control valves is required and necessary. Regular inspection, testing and cleaning assures maximum life and proper function ."¹¹ The instructions explain how to disassemble the Watts PRV, clean the strainer, replace the seat disc or diaphragm, inspect for damage, and reassemble.¹²

The instructions also provide a one-year limited warranty in a paragraph set off from the surrounding text, in contrasting type case with a bold, all-capitalized label.¹³ The limited warranty states:

LIMITED WARRANTY : Watts Regulator Company warrants each product against defects in material and workmanship for a period of one-year from the date of the original shipment. In the event of such defects within the warranty period, the Company will, at its option, replace or recondition the product without charge. This shall constitute the exclusive remedy for breach of warranty, and the Company shall not be responsible for any incidental or consequential damages, including, without limitation, damages or other costs resulting from ..., negligence, ..., damage from adverse water conditions, ..., or any other circumstances over which the company has no control.... THE COMPANY MAKES NO OTHER WARRANTIES EXPRESS OR IMPLIED EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN THE LIMITED WARRANTY.¹⁴

No one living in the home knew of the Watts PRV's existence, nor had they ever seen, let alone read, the Watts PRV's installation and maintenance instructions.¹⁵ No one in the home inspected the PRV. To Mr. Kenney's knowledge, no one ever measured the water pressure in the home before September 2018.

Mr. Kenney's plumbing repairs.

Mr. Kenney made several plumbing repairs in his home at various points over the years. He replaced around six faucet valve seats to fix dripping sinks, about three toilet flush valves to fix running toilets, a split hose pipe to prevent water from leaking into the basement, and a corroded pipe in his water heater expansion tank also to prevent water from leaking into the basement.¹⁶ Relevant to this litigation, Mr. Kenney replaced the valve assembly in the toilets in the powder room bathroom several months before September 2018 and the valve assembly in the second floor guest bathroom a few years before September 2018.¹⁷ Both toilets were fed by supply lines, which were connected to the toilet with a PEX fitting with a ballcock nut.¹⁸ While replacing the valve assembly, Mr. Kenney at some point "snugged down" the ballcock nuts using either a channel lock or a crescent wrench.¹⁹ Although he did not specifically measure the torque when he tightened the ballcock nuts, Mr. Kenney feels confident he did not overtighten them because, as an aerospace engineer who builds airplanes for a living, he "ha[s] experience with torque limits" and "know[s] that if you overtighten something, you'll just end up with ... twisted threads or broken parts."²⁰

In addition to making as-needed repairs, Mr. Kenney periodically performed limited routine maintenance, including winterizing the hose bibs, checking the exterior sprinkler system, and replacing the smoke alarm batteries.²¹ As he did not know the Watts PRV existed, his periodic maintenance did not include inspecting the Watts PRV, nor did it include measuring the water pressure in his home.

The Kenneys suffer water damage in September 2018.

The Kenneys spent a September 2018 day visiting their daughter at Penn State University.²² When they arrived home about sixteen hours later, they noticed water coming down from the ceiling of the garage.²³ Mr. Kenney told his wife to stay in the car, and he went inside.²⁴ He found water pouring down everywhere, and the ceiling in the laundry room on the first floor had caved in.²⁵ He went down into the basement and shut the water off at the main line.²⁶ He went to the second floor to try to find the cause of the leak.²⁷ He walked into the second-floor guest bathroom and saw the pipe feeding the bottom of the toilet tank was detached.²⁸

Mr. Kenney called his home insurer Allstate and damage restoration company Servpro, and the Kenneys started looking for a place to stay.²⁹ The Kenneys returned to their home the following two days to meet with Servpro representatives.³⁰ Mr. Kenney turned on the water so they could use the other bathrooms while they were inside the home, but turned it off when they left for the evening.³¹ On the second day, the toilet in the first floor powder room failed in the same way as the second floor toilet earlier in the week.³² Later investigation revealed the ballcock nuts on the first floor toilet cracked.³³

Mr. Kenney called a plumber who came over and looked at the damage.³⁴ He recommended replacing the broken parts on the two toilets.³⁵ The plumber did not measure the water pressure in the home.³⁶ Mr. Kenney called a second plumber.³⁷ The second plumber, Toby Messere, came to the home and measured the water pressure right away.³⁸ The water pressure measured at 237 psi.³⁹ Noting he had seen the same problem before in the area and expressing frustration at the water company's adjustment of water pressure levels, Plumber Messere recommended Mr. Kenney install not one, but two, Watts PRVs and gauges in case the water pressure spiked again and one of the regulators or gauges failed.⁴⁰

The home required extensive renovations after the September 2018 incident, including new flooring, new drywall, and an entirely new kitchen.⁴¹ Home insurer Allstate paid Mr. Kenney $280,988.87 for the damage and the Kenneys paid unspecified, but seemingly considerable, sums of money out-of-pocket.⁴²

Insurer Allstate retains Loss Consultant Zazula to study the loss.

Mr. Kenney, his home insurer Allstate, and Watts now began to examine who to blame for the loss. Allstate retained Michael Zazula, a loss consultant, to investigate and determine the root cause of the September 2018 incident.⁴³ Loss Consultant Zazula worked for IEI Consulting as an engineering consultant since 2012.⁴⁴ From 2005 to 2012, he worked as a consulting engineer for Plick and Associates, and he worked for Volkswagen from 1997 to 2004 investigating product failure issues.⁴⁵ He performed over 2,000 forensic investigations over the past twenty years.⁴⁶ He offered expert testimony in several state and federal cases.⁴⁷

Loss Consultant Zazula conducted an initial site inspection on September 14, 2018.⁴⁸ He returned to the home for a second inspection on October 2, 2018, this time joined...