Greenman v. Yuba Power Products, Inc.

• Citation: 377 P.2d 897,13 A.L.R.2d 1049,59 Cal.2d 57,27 Cal.Rptr. 697
• Parties: , 377 P.2d 897, 13 A.L.R.3d 1049 William B. GREENMAN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. YUBA POWER PRODUCTS, INC., Defendant and Appellant; The Hayseed, Defendant and Respondent. L. A. 26976.
• Decision Date: 24 January 1963
• Court: California Supreme Court

Page 697

27 Cal.Rptr. 697

59 Cal.2d 57, 377 P.2d 897, 13 A.L.R.3d 1049

William B. GREENMAN, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. YUBA POWER PRODUCTS, INC., Defendant and Appellant;

The Hayseed, Defendant and Respondent.

L. A. 26976.

Supreme Court of California, In Bank.

Jan. 24, 1963.

Reed, Brockway & Ruffin and William F. Reed, San Diego, for plaintiff and appellant.

Holt, Macomber, Graham & Baugh and William H. Macomber, San Diego, for defendant and appellant.

Moss, Lyon & Dunn, Gerold C. Dunn and Henry F. Walker, Los Angeles, as amici curiae on behalf of defendant and appellant.

No appearance for defendant and respondent.

TRAYNOR, Justice.

Plaintiff brought this action for damages against the retailer and the manufacturer of a Shopsmith, a combination power tool that could be used as a saw, drill, and wood lathe. He saw a Shopsmith demonstrated by the retailer and studied a brochure prepared by the manufacturer. He decided he wanted a Shopsmith for his home workshop, and his wife bought and gave him one for Christmas in 1955. In 1957 he bought the necessary attachments to use the Shopsmith as a lathe for turning a large piece of wood he wished to make into a chalice. After he had worked on the piece of wood several times without difficulty, it suddenly flew out of the machine and struck him on the forehead, inflicting serious injuries. About ten and a half months later, he gave the retailer and the manufacturer written notice of claimed breaches of warranties and filed a complaint against them alleging such breaches and negligence.

After a trial before a jury, the court ruled that there was no evidence that the retailer was negligent or had breached any express warranty and that the manufacturer was not liable for the breach of any implied warranty. Accordingly, it submitted to the jury only the cause of action alleging breach of implied warranties against the retailer and the causes of action alleging negligence and breach of express warranties against the manufacturer. The jury returned a verdict for the retailer against plaintiff and for plaintiff against the manufacturer in the amount of $65,000. The trial court denied the manufacturer's motion for a new trial and entered judgment on the verdict. The manufacturer and plaintiff appeal. Plaintiff seeks a reversal of the part of the judgment in favor of the retailer, however, only in the event that the part of the judgment against the manufacturer is reversed.

Plaintiff introduced substantial evidence that his injuries were caused by defective design and construction of the Shopsmith. His expert witnesses testified that inadequate set screws were used to hold parts of the machine together so that normal vibration caused the tailstock of the lathe to move away from the piece of wood being turned permitting it to fly out of the lathe. They also testified that there were other more positive ways of fastening the parts of the machine together, the use of which would have prevented the accident. The jury could therefore reasonably have concluded that the manufacturer negligently constructed the Shopsmith. The jury could also reasonably have concluded that statements in the manufacturer's brochure were untrue, that they constituted express warranties, ¹ and that plaintiff's injuries were caused by their breach.

The manufacturer contends, however, that plaintiff did not give it notice of breach of warranty within a reasonable time and that therefore his cause of action for breach of warranty is barred by section 1769 of the Civil Code. Since it cannot be determined whether the verdict against it was based on the negligence or warranty cause of action or both, the manufacturer concludes that the error in presenting the warranty cause of action to the jury was prejudicial.

Section 1769 of the Civil Code provides: 'In the absence of express or implied agreement of the parties, acceptance of the goods by the buyer shall not discharge the seller from liability in damages or other legal remedy for breach of any promise or warranty in the contract to sell or the sale. But, if, after acceptance of the goods, the buyer fails to give notice to the seller of the breach of any promise or warranty within a reasonable time after the buyer knows, or ought to know of such breach, the seller shall not be liable therefor.'

Like other provisions of the uniform sales act (Civ.Code, §§ 1721-1800), section 1769 deals with the rights of the parties to a contract of sale or a sale. It does not provide that notice must be given of the breach of a warranty that arises independently of a contract of sale between the parties. Such warranties are not imposed by the sales act, but are the product of common-law decisions that have recognized them in a variety of situations. (See Gagne v. Bertran, 43 Cal.2d 481, 486-487, 275 P.2d 15, and authorities cited; Peterson v. Lamb Rubber Co., 54 Cal.2d 339, 348, 5 Cal.Rptr. 863, 353 P.2d 575; Klein v. Duchess Sandwich Co., Ltd., 14 Cal.2d 272, 276-283, 93 P.2d 799; Burr v. Sherwin Williams Co., 42 Cal.2d 682, 695-696, 268 P.2d 1041; Souza & McCue Constr. Co. v. Superior Court, 57 Cal.2d 508, 510-511, 20 Cal.Rptr. 634, 370 P.2d 338.) It is true that in many of these situations the court has invoked the sales act definitions of warranties (Civ.Code, §§ 1732, 1735) in defining the defendant's liability, but it has done so, not because the statutes so required, but because they provided appropriate standards for the court to adopt under the circumstances presented. (See Clinkscales v. Carver, 2 Cal.2d 72, 75, 136 P.2d 777; Dana v. Sutton Motor Sales, 56 Cal.2d 284, 287, 14 Cal.Rptr. 649, 636 P.2d 881.)

The notice requirement of section 1769, however, is not an appropriate one for the court to adopt in actions by injured consumers against manufacturers with whom they have not dealt. (La Hue v. Coca-Cola Bottling, 50 Wash.2d 645, 314 P.2d 421, 422; Chapman v. Brown, D.C., 198 F.Supp. 78, 85, affd. Brown v. Chapman, 9 Cir., 304 F.2d 149.) 'As between the immediate parties to the sale (the notice requirement) is a sound commercial rule, designed to protect the seller against unduly delayed claims for damages. As applied to personal injuries, and notice to a remote seller, it becomes a booby-trap for the unwary. The injured consumer is seldom 'steeped in the business practice which justifies the rule,' (James, Product Liability, 34 Texas L.Rev. 44, 192, 197) and at least until he has had legal advice it will not occur to him to give notice to one with whom he has had no dealings.' (Prosser, Strict Liability to the Consumer, 69 Yale L.J. 1099, 1130, footnotes omitted.) It is true that in Jones v. Burgermeister Brewing Corp., 198 Cal.App.2d 198, 202-203, 18 Cal.Rptr. 311; Perry v. Thrifty Drug Co., 186 Cal.App.2d 410, 411 ,9 Cal.Rptr. 50; Arata v. Tonegato, 152 Cal.App.2d 837, 841, 314 P.2d 130, and Maecherlein v. Sealy Mattress Co., 155 Cal.App.2d 275, 278, 302 P.2d 331, the court assumed that notice of breach of warranty must be given in an action by a consumer against a manufacturer. Since in those cases, however, the court did not consider the question whether a distinction exists between a warranty based on a contract between the parties and one imposed on a manufacturer not in privity with the consumer, the decisions are not authority for rejecting the rule of the La Hue and Chapman cases, supra. (Peterson v. Lamb Rubber Co., 54 Cal.2d 339, 343, 5 Cal.Rptr. 863, 353 P.2d 575; People v. Banks, 53 Cal.2d 370, 389, 1 Cal.Rptr. 669, 348 P.2d 102.) We conclude, therefore, the even if plaintiff did not give timely notice of breach of warranty to the manufacturer, his cause of action based on the representations contained in the brochure was not barred.

Moreover, to impose strict liability on the manufacturer under the circumstances of this case, it was not necessary for plaintiff to establish an express warranty as defined in section 1732 of the Civil Code. ² A manufacturer is strictly liable in tort when an article he places on the market, knowing that it is to be used without inspection for defects, proves to have a defect that causes injury to a human being. Recognized first in the case of unwholesome food products, such liability has now been extended to a variety of other products that create as great or greater hazards if defective. (Peterson v. Lamb Rubber Co., 54 Cal.2d 339, 347, 5 Cal.Rptr. 863, 353 P.2d 575 (grinding wheel); Vallis v. Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc., 190 Cal.App.2d 35, 42-44, 11 Cal.Rptr. 823 (bottle); Jones v. Burgermeister Brewing Corp., 198 Cal.App.2d 198, 204, 18 Cal.Rptr. 311 (bottle); Gottsdanker v. Cutter Laboratories, 182 Cal.App.2d App.2d 602, 607, 6 Cal.Rptr. 320, 79 A.L.R.2d 290 (vaccine); McQuaide v. Bridgport Brass Co., D.C., 190 F.Supp. 252, 254 (insect spray); Bowles v. Zimmer Manufacturing Co., 7 Cir., 277 F.2d 868, 875, 76 A.L.R.2d 120 (surgical pin); Thompson v. Reedman, D.C., 199 F.Supp. 120, 121 (automobile); Chapman v. Brown, D.C., 198 F.Supp. 78, 118, 119, affd. Brown v. Chapman, 9 Cir., 304 F.2d 149 (skirt); B. F. Goodrich Co. v. Hammond, 10 Cir., 269 F.2d 501, 504 (automobile tire); Markovich v. McKesson and Robbins, Inc., 106 Ohio App 265, 149 N.E.2d 181, 186-188 (home permanent); Graham v. Bottenfield's Inc., 176 Kan. 68, 269 P.2d 413, 418 (hair dye); General Motors Corp. v. Dodson, 47 Tenn.App. 438, ...