Court Opinion

ID: 9548058
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:56:54.794021+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:18:26.000178
License: Public Domain

DONALDSON, Chief Justice,
concurring and concurring in result.
I concur in all aspects of the majority opinion except as to that portion which discusses Salmon Rivers Sportsman Camps, Inc. v. Cessna Aircraft Co., 97 Idaho 348, 544 P.2d 306 (1975). As to that portion of the opinion, I concur in result only, as I must express my concern regarding the continued validity of our previous holding in Salmon Rivers. Therein, we stated “that privity of contract is required in a contract action to recover economic loss for breach of implied warranty.” Id. at 354, 544 P.2d 306. While it must be *338noted that there is a split of authority on this issue, the factors enunciated by the Alaskan Supreme Court in Morrow v. New Moon Homes, Inc., 548 P.2d 279 (Alaska 1976), deserve our consideration.
“The rationale for the widespread abolition of the requirement of privity stems from the structure and operation of the free market economy in contemporary society; it was succinctly summed up not long ago by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania:
“ ‘Courts and scholars alike have recognized that the typical consumer does not deal at arms length with the party whose product he buys. Rather, he buys from a retail merchant who is usually little more than an economic conduit. It is not the merchant who has defectively manufactured the product. Nor is it usually the merchant who advertises the product on such a large scale as to attract customers. We have in our society literally scores of large, financially responsible manufacturers who place their wares in the stream of commerce not only with the realization, but with the avowed purpose, that these goods will find their way into the hands of the consumer. Only the consumer will use these products; and only the consumer will be injured by them should they prove defective.’ [Kassab v. Central Soya, 432 Pa. 217, 246 A.2d 848, 853 (1968) (footnote omitted)].
“The policy considerations which dictate the abolition of privity are largely those which also warranted imposing strict tort liability on the manufacturer: the consumer’s inability to protect himself adequately from defectively manufactured goods, the implied assurance of the maker when he puts his goods on the market that they are safe, and the superior risk bearing ability of the manufacturer. In addition, limiting a consumer under the [Uniform Commercial] Code to an implied warranty action against his immediate seller in those instances when the products defect is attributable to the manufacturer would effectively promote circularity of litigation and waste of judicial resources.”
Morrow, supra at 289.
Moreover, the legislature has enacted the Uniform Commercial Code which contains a comprehensive and finely tuned statutory mechanism for dealing with the rights of parties to a sales transaction regarding economic losses. Clark v. International Harvester, 99 Idaho 326, 581 P.2d 784 (1978). The UCC leaves to the courts the question of whether vertical privity of contract will be required in an action for breach of warranty. I.C. § 28-2-318, comment 3.
The fear that an implied warranty action would subject manufacturers to liability for damages unknown and unlimited in scope is unfounded. Morrow, supra at 291. Provisions are available under the UCC to limit the scope of a manufacturer's potential liability by use of the disclaimer provisions, I.C. § 28-2-316, and by use of the limitation of remedies provisions, I.C. § 28-2-719. “Moreover, the UCC provisions provide the Court with ample room for the exercise of wide judicial discretion to ensure that substantial justice results in particular cases. See, e.g., I.C. §§ 28-2-302 and -2-719(3) (concerning unconscionable clauses and contracts), and I.C. § 28-1-203 (imposing a general obligation of good faith).” Clark, supra at 335, 581 P.2d 784.
In view of these considerations, I cannot concur in the adoption or approval of our previous holding in Salmon Rivers.