Wilson v. J.G. & B.S. Ferguson Co.
| Decision Date | 01 April 1913 |
| Citation | 101 N.E. 381,214 Mass. 265 |
| Parties | WILSON v. J. G. & B. S. FERGUSON CO. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
W. W Clarke, of Boston, and C.J. Muldoon, Jr., of Somerville, for plaintiff.
Dickson & Knowles, of Boston, for defendant.
The jury by their verdict assessing damages must have been convinced on the testimony of the plaintiff and of her medical attendant that her serious and prolonged illness arose from toxic or ptomaine poisoning caused by eating a blueberry pie made by the defendant, and purchased from a retail dealer. A further finding, that on the morning of the day of purchase the pie had been delivered to the dealer by the defendant, and immediately placed by him in a glass case furnished by it from which the plaintiff, among other customers, had been supplied, would have been warranted. It represented by advertisements, that it was engaged in making and selling pies which were not only wholesome but of excellent quality.
Apart from any expectation of pecuniary gain or apprehension of loss it was bound in their preparation to take every reasonable precaution to supply an article of food which would not be deleterious to the consumer's health. Lebourdais v. Vitrified Wheel Co., 194 Mass. 341, 80 N.E. 482; Gately v. Taylor, 211 Mass. 64, 97 N.E 619, 39 L. R. A. (N. S.) 472; Roberts v. Anheuser Busch Ass'n, 211 Mass. 449, 98 N.E. 95; Crocker v Baltimore Dairy Lunch Co., 100 N.E. 1078. The pie under these findings having been unwholesome, and the dealer free from blame, the remaining question is, whether there is evidence from which it could have been found that the plaintiff's injuries were attributable to the defendant's negligence.
The selection of the berries, the manner of assorting and preparing them for use, and the large volume of business transacted, are described in detail by the defendant's witnesses. The evidence, however, need not be minutely reviewed. Its essential features only are important. It seems that a well-defined period of demand for blueberry pies of the defendant's brand had been established in the trade for which it prepared by buying and keeping on hand large quantities of berries. But as they were not all used when the public appetite slackened or ceased, the unused portion for some eight or nine months, or until the succeeding season, was thereupon stored in whisky barrels, where the extent and force of...
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