Court Opinion

ID: 9639931
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:52:01.327812+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:23.092989
License: Public Domain

HEALY, Circuit Judge
(dissenting).
I think the complaint sufficiently alleged the breach of an implied warranty that the hot water bag was reasonably fit for the purpose for which it was bought. It alleged that such articles are made, sold and ordinarily used for the purpose of applying heat to the body of an infant; that the defendant was familiar with such use, and knew when it sold the article to plaintiff’s father that it would be used in such manner; and the defendant represented to him that “it was in a safe condition and fit to use for the purpose aforesaid, and he believed said representations and relied thereon in purchasing said hot water bag.” These averments, it seems to me, expressly or by necessary implication state (1) that the buyer informed the seller of the particular purpose for which the article was intended to be used, and (2) that the buyer relied upon the seller’s skill or judgment. Consult § 1735, Civil Code of California.
In view of the present liberal rules of pleading (Rule 8, Rules of Civil Procedure) these allegations would ordinarily be held sufficient to support a recovery on a theory of implied warranty. The pleading apprised the defendant of the essential facts upon which plaintiff’s claim was based. The facts alleged in this respect were fully established by the evidence, and the court so found. In my opinion both pleading and proof disclose a liability on the part of appellant for breach of the implied warranty of fitness. Appellant has not been prejudiced by appellee’s insistence *602on the theory of negligence. Indeed, appellant makes no claim of surprise, and it could not well do so. A substantial portion of appellant’s opening brief on the appeal— more explicitly, seven pages of it — was devoted to a discussion of the warranty theory.
Appellant contends that there is no liability on its part for breach of warranty because of lack of privity of contract between appellee and itself. However, the holding of the California supreme court in Klein v. Duchess Sandwich Co., Ltd., 14 Cal.2d 272, 93 P.2d 799, would seem clearly to refute this contention. In that case it was claimed that there could be no recovery because plaintiff was not the “buyer” within the meaning of the statute, hence there was no privity of contract. The court rejected the argument, observing (14 Cal.2d at page 283, 93 P.2d at page 805) that “should such contention be upheld, the result would be that should a father or a mother of an infant child purchase from a grocer a bottle of unwholesome milk, or other deleterious food, for consumption by the child and, ensuing from its consumption thereof, the child became ill, — no damages therefor by reason of a breach of implied warranty would be recoverable. It would seem improbable that, in adopting the act, the legislature ever intended or even contemplated that such a construction would or could be placed upon the language of the section referred to herein.”
While the Duchess Sandwich Co. case involved a sale of food, it seems obvious that the statute bears the same meaning whether the sale be of food or an infant’s hot water bag.
I think the judgment should be affirmed.