Warranties and Product Liability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Warranties and Product Liability - Essay Example A warranty also comes to the fore in any contract of sale whenever such contract is subjected to any condition whereby such is not performed. The promisee therefore, has two options. He may refuse to proceed with the contract by reason of a breach of warranty or he may waive the performance of that condition. To test whether in a contract of sale there is warranty, the pertinent question is whether the buyer is an 'ignorant' buyer who relied on the seller's affirmation of fact or promise or not. If he is, there is warranty. However, in one case, there is no warranty when the purchaser is expected to have an opinion and the vendor has no special opinion (Spencer Heater Co v Abbot). In the hereinabove definition of warranty, there are 2 kinds of general warranties enumerated i.e. express warranty and implied warranty. A third one, statutory warranty has recently been added via legal enactments. From these 3 categories are engendered several other warranties which may be express or implied depending on the facts of the case. Express warranty is any affirmation of fact or any pledge by the vendor relating to the goods if the natural inclination of such affirmation or pledge is the inducement of the vendee to buy the same, and if the vendee purchases by reason of such affirmation or pledge. Thus, it is imperative that such warranty... express warranty and implied warranty. A third one, statutory warranty has recently been added via legal enactments. From these 3 categories are engendered several other warranties which may be express or implied depending on the facts of the case. Express warranty is any affirmation of fact or any pledge by the vendor relating to the goods if the natural inclination of such affirmation or pledge is the inducement of the vendee to buy the same, and if the vendee purchases by reason of such affirmation or pledge. Thus, it is Warranties 3 imperative that such warranty as derived from the language of the contract must be explicit and may take form as an affirmation, pledge or representation (Parish v Kotthoff). The Patricia Henley case whereby petitioner Henley sued Philip Morris for damages on the basis of the latter agent's misrepresentation to her that she should shift to Marlboro Lights in order to escape or diminish the risks of smoking, is one potent example of express warranty. The court ruled that the petitioner's carcinoma of the lungs was caused by her chain-smoking of Marlboro Lights and that such was induced by the (mis)representation of Philip Morris'agent that such is not only safe but desirable (Henley v Philip Morris). Another example is when the product contains these words in the label "This product is guaranteed free from defect". Implied warranty, on the other hand, doesn't involve any explicit promise rather the warranty is imposed on the seller by operation of law. The basis for such is the circumstances of the sale. Thus in each contract of sale, oral or written, it is implied or inferred that the