## Facts

- Robert E. Newberry and Phyllis Newberry (plaintiffs) bought a mobile home that was manufactured by Barth, Inc. (defendant).
- Plaintiffs took delivery of the unit in June 1970.
- After delivery, plaintiffs experienced multiple problems with the home, including water leakage, rusting, warped paneling, buckled flooring, and sticking doors.
- Plaintiffs contended the problems reflected defects attributable to the manufacturer and brought suit against Barth, Inc.
- Plaintiffs alleged several theories of recovery, including negligence, strict liability, and breach of implied warranty.
- Barth, Inc. raised a statute of limitations defense in its answer.
- The district court directed a verdict for Barth, Inc. on the strict-liability and implied-warranty claims and submitted only negligence to the jury.
- The jury returned a verdict for Barth, Inc. on negligence.
- Plaintiffs appealed, challenging the directed verdicts and several rulings affecting instructions and defenses.

## Issues

1. Did the district court err in directing a verdict against plaintiffs on strict liability and breach of implied warranty on statute of limitations grounds?
2. Did Barth, Inc. waive the statute of limitations defense by its litigation conduct?
3. Did the district court err by refusing plaintiffs’ requested jury instructions on res ipsa loquitur and/or circumstantial proof that a defect existed when the product left the manufacturer?

## Decision

- The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed.
- The court held plaintiffs’ strict-liability and implied-warranty claims were barred by the five-year statute of limitations in Iowa Code § 614.1(4) because the limitations period ran from the act causing the injury, and plaintiffs sued more than five years after delivery.
- The court held Barth, Inc. did not waive the statute of limitations defense because it was properly pleaded and preserved.
- The court held plaintiffs were not entitled to res ipsa loquitur or related circumstantial-defect instructions where the record did not support a finding that a defect existed when the mobile home left Barth, Inc., and the case was properly tried to the jury on negligence without those instructions.

## Legal Principles

- In Iowa, the five-year limitations period in Iowa Code § 614.1(4) may bar product-based strict-liability and implied-warranty claims when suit is filed more than five years after the act that caused the injury, rather than from later discovery of damage.
- A statute of limitations defense is generally preserved when pleaded in the defendant’s answer; continued participation in litigation does not, by itself, forfeit the defense.
- Res ipsa loquitur (and similar “defect by inference” approaches) is not available without evidence supporting the required inferences, including that the condition more likely than not resulted from a defect attributable to the defendant and that the defect existed when the product left the defendant’s control.

## Conclusion

The Iowa Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for Barth, Inc., ruling that the strict-liability and implied-warranty claims were time-barred under Iowa’s five-year limitations statute, Barth did not waive that defense, and the trial court correctly refused res ipsa loquitur/circumstantial-defect instructions where plaintiffs did not produce a record supporting an inference that the mobile home was defective when it left the manufacturer.


Newberry v. Barth, Inc., 252 N.W.2d 711 (1977)