Prince

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment on the pleadings in an action for breach of warranty. We reverse.

Plaintiff purchased an automobile manufactured by an English company known as Jensen Motors, Ltd. from that corporation’s California distributor, a corporation known as Jensen Motors, Inc. Both corporations are doing business in California. He suffered property damage allegedly because of *655 defective manufacture of the car. He sued Ltd. alleging breach of both the implied and an express warranty of fitness. Service was made on Inc. Ltd. secured a dismissal for lack of service on it. Plaintiff then served Inc. as a Doe defendant. Inc. answered and filed a cross-complaint against Ltd. for indemnity. The answer denied generally all allegations of the complaint with three defenses: contributory negligence, assumption of risk, and failure to state facts constituting a cause of action against Inc. The parties filed cross at-issue memoranda. In 1980, four years having run, Inc. moved to dismiss for failure to prosecute. That motion was denied on a showing of an excuse by plaintiff. When the case finally came on for trial, on June 22, 1981, Inc. moved for judgment on the…