Court Opinion

ID: 9558095
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:02:49.322109+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:08:19.373362
License: Public Domain

QUINN, Justice,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. My disagreement with the majority is on two counts: (1) I believe the majority’s interpretation of justifiable reliance imposes upon a § 402B claimant a standard of conduct not intended by the drafters of the Restatement; and (2) I also believe the evidence adduced in support of the § 402B claim of the respondent (plaintiff) was sufficient to submit the ease to the jury on that theory of liability.
*224I.
Although I agree that § 402B is a salutary rule which should be incorporated into the tort law of this state, in my view the majority’s conclusion that the plaintiff failed to establish a prima facie case of justifiable reliance is based on a misapprehension of § 402B. In rejecting the plaintiff’s § 402B claim, the majority states that “[ujnsupportable subjective reliance is inadequate” and posits as the appropriate standard the following: “Justifiable reliance contemplates the reasonable exercise of knowledge and intelligence in assessing the represented facts.” This standard, however, requires a consumer to make a reasonable independent assessment of the contents of the representation and, in effect, imposes upon a consumer a duty far beyond anything contemplated by § 402B.1
Comment j to § 402B indicates that the issue of justifiable reliance should be determined in accordance with the rules stated in §§ 537-545A. For reliance to be justifiable the matter misrepresented must be material. Restatement (Second) of Torts, supra, § 538(1). The content of a misrepresentation is material if “a reasonable man would attach importance to its existence or nonexistence in determining his choice of action in the transaction in question.” Restatement (Second) of Torts, supra, § 538(2)(a). Thus, the only standard of reasonableness applicable to the element of justifiable reliance under § 402B relates to the consumer’s attachment of importance to the misrepresented fact, not to the consumer’s assessment of the contents of the misrepresented fact. That the drafters of § 402B did not intend the element of justifiable reliance to require the consumer’s reasonable exercise of knowledge and intelligence in assessing the represented facts is obvious from § 540. That section states that the recipient of a misrepresentation of fact “is justified in relying upon its truth, although he might have ascertained the falsity of the representation had he made an investigation.” Comment a to § 540 states that a failure to investigate is no defense even “when it could be made without any considerable trouble or expense.”
The interpretation of justifiable reliance adopted by the majority imposes a standard of conduct on the consumer which has no place in the doctrine of strict liability for misrepresentation.
II.
I also disagree with the majority’s analysis of the evidence and its conclusion that the plaintiff failed to establish a prima fa-cie case of strict liability under § 402B. In determining whether a prima facie case of liability has been established, the evidence must be viewed in a light most favorable to the plaintiff and all reasonable inferences must be drawn in his favor. E.g., Gossard v. Watson, 122 Colo. 271, 221 P.2d 353 (1950). When the evidence is so viewed, it is apparent that the plaintiff’s § 402B claim should have been submitted to the jury.
There was sufficient evidence establishing the defendant-seller’s misrepresentation of a material fact concerning the helmet. The carton in which the model 1601 helmets were originally packaged had two pictured illustrations, one on each side, depicting a motorcyclist wearing the helmet. Also shown on the outside of the carton were illustrations of persons using the helmet to drive an automobile and to operate a snowmobile. A slogan on the carton stated “Protection Thru Research.” No warning was placed on the carton that helmet model 1601 could not be used for motorcycling purposes.2 From the consumer’s stand*225point, the only way to determine the particular model inside the carton was by the model number written on the exterior of the carton. However, the model number by itself offered no indication that the helmet could not be used for the purposes depicted on the carton.
Although not addressed by the majority, the evidence also established a prima facie case that the misrepresentation was to the public — that is, the likely users of the helmet. Comment h of § 402B makes clear that the misrepresentation may be made not only by a form of advertising directed towards the general public, such as newspapers and television, but also “by literature distributed to the public through dealers, by labels on products sold, or by leaflets accompanying it .. ..” A representation through a dealer in particular goods or a representation by means of a label or leaflet accompanying the chattel would be directed only to that limited portion of the public likely to use the chattel, rather than to the public at large. Thus, what is significant under § 402B is whether the representation was made to likely consumers of the product, even though those consumers may constitute only a limited and select component of the general public.3 The defendant in this case sent sales literature to law enforcement agencies and to retail outlets through which the helmet could be purchased. The defendant’s custodian of records testified that he had seen records of sales of both types of helmets to a Denver retail outlet with whom the Denver Police Department placed its order. Moreover, the illustrations on the outside of the carton were calculated to reach the consumers of both helmet models 1601 and 1602.
There was also sufficient evidence of justifiable reliance by the plaintiff on the defendant’s representation that helmet model 1601 could be used for motorcycling. The plaintiff testified that when helmet model 1601 was issued to him in 1970, it was packaged in a carton which had a picture on the outside showing a motorcyclist wearing the helmet and also a slogan stating “Protection Thru Research.” The plaintiff retained the helmet in his police locker and relied on the illustration on the carton in using the helmet for motorcycling. Such evidence, when appropriately viewed, is sufficient to permit a jury to conclude that the plaintiff justifiably relied on the defendant’s representation because, as a reasonable man, he regarded the representation on the carton to be important in determining his decision to use helmet model 1601 for motorcycling purposes. See Restatement (Second) of Torts, supra, § 538, Comment d.
In concluding that the plaintiff failed to establish justifiable reliance the majority singles out the instruction received by the plaintiff on the use of helmet model 1601, particularly as related to riot control situations, as well as his knowledge that this helmet model was issued to general duty officers and not to motorcycle officers. However, the plaintiff’s awareness of these matters is not the equivalent of actual knowledge of the unsuitability of helmet model 1601 for motorcycling purposes. Unless there is some duty on the part of the consumer to make a reasonable independent assessment of the representation — a duty expressly repudiated by § 540 of the Restatement — the extent of the plaintiff’s knowledge of helmet model 1601, as disclosed by this record, is not sufficient as a matter of law to nullify his right to rely on the defendant’s representation that the helmet could be used for motorcycling purposes.
Finally, although not addressed by the majority, there can be no doubt that the plaintiff was a consumer within the mean*226ing of § 402B. “ ‘Consumer’ is to be understood in the broad sense of one who makes use of a chattel in a manner which a purchaser may be expected to use it.” Restatement (Second) of Torts, supra, § 402B, Comment i. It is certainly foreseeable that an officer of the police department, to which helmet model 1601 was sold, would use it for the purpose depicted on the sales carton.
It is only in the clearest of cases, where the facts are undisputed and reasonable persons may draw but one inference from the facts, that the issue is one of law for the court. See Blount v. Romero, 157 Colo. 130, 401 P.2d 611 (1965). Here, when the evidence is viewed in a light most favorable to the plaintiff and every legitimate inference is acknowledged in his favor, a prima facie case of strict liability under § 402B has been established. Therefore, I would affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand the case for a new trial on the plaintiff’s § 402B claim.
I am authorized to say that Justice DU-BOFSKY joins me in the dissent.

. While Comment j of § 402B indicates that reliance is unjustified “where the misrepresentation is not known, or there is an indifference to it,” ignorance of or indifference to a misrepresentation is qualitatively distinct from the duty of reasonable independent assessment imposed by the majority.

. In addition to the illustration on the carton, one of the defendant’s sales circulars stated that the helmet offered “proven impact protection from vehicle accidents .... ” Although the plaintiff did not see the sales circular, and therefore did not rely on the circular in using the helmet, the contents of the circular do cor-*225robórate to some degree the character of the representation on the carton.

. A caveat to § 402B states that the American Law Institute expresses no opinion “as to whether the rule stated in this section may apply (1) where the representation is not made to the public but to an individual .... ” Since I believa the evidence, when properly viewed, establishes a prima facie case of misrepresentation to the public, I do not consider the issue whether the plaintiff should be entitled to recover on the basis of a nonpublic representation to him about the helmet.