Bowman v. Woodway Stores, Inc.

258 Ill. App. 307, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 579
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedFebruary 28, 1930
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 258 Ill. App. 307 (Bowman v. Woodway Stores, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bowman v. Woodway Stores, Inc., 258 Ill. App. 307, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 579 (Ill. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Newhall

delivered the opinion of the court.

Appellee instituted suit against appellant to recover damages for the death of appellee’s intestate claimed to be caused by drinking impure condensed milk purchased by the father of the deceased from appellant at its store in Johnson City, Illinois.

From the evidence offered on behalf of appellee it appears that on June 18, 1927, Earl Bowman, father of the deceased, purchased a dozen cans of condensed milk from appellant at its place of business; that appellant was engaged in conducting a retail store where foodstuffs were kept for sale; that at the time of the purchase the father made known his wants at the store and there was delivered to him a dozen cans of condensed milk, in one package, for which he paid 60 cents; that appellee had been in the habit for a considerable period of time of purchasing similar cans of milk which were labeled and sold under a trade brand called “Pet Milk”; that on the two consecutive days following the purchase a can of milk was opened and used by the family of appellee, and no ill effects were suffered by the family from such use; that on June 22 a third can of milk was opened by punching two holes in the top of the can, the milk therefrom was placed in a pitcher to which was added water, and was served at the breakfast table by mixing the same with grapenuts. The family consisted of appellee and his wife, and their child Howard Bowman, who was about 18 months old.

About two hours after Howard Bowman partook of the milk and grapenuts the child was taken sick and died the next day. The father and mother drank of the milk, taken from the same can, at the breakfast meal and they were also stricken with what was diagnosed as ptomaine poisoning by the family physician. All three were sick at the same time, had prostrations, were cold with clammy sweats and were purging, but the symptoms of the boy were much worse. The doctor who was called to treat the family made a physical examination of the remaining grapenuts and milk on the morning he was called to treat these persons, and stated, in his opinion, that the ptomaine poisoning was caused by the drinking of the milk; that the death of the child was due to such poisoning. The milk prior to its use by the family of appellee appeared to be in good condition, there being no bad taste or smell which could be detected from casual examination.

The evidence for appellant shows that condensed milk, similar to that in question, had been manufactured for many'years at Greenville, Illinois, under the trade brand of “Pet Milk”; that the company in the preparation of the milk exercised care to sterilize the cans, the best known- methods of preparation were used by the company to prevent deterioration of the milk after being placed in sealed tin containers and careful inspection was made in the manufacture to determine any defective cans or any imperfections in the preparation of the milk.

At the close of appellee’s evidence and again at the close of all the evidence, appellant moved the court for a directed verdict,' which motions were denied and the trial resulted in a verdict in favor of appellee for $6,772, upon which judgment was entered.

•Appellant’s first contention is that the declaration is insufficient to support the judgment;'first, because it fails to charge in apt words that the “milk” was poisonous; second, failure to charge that the deceased exercised due care, or was of such immature age as would excuse such want of care; third, failure to charge that the parents of the deceased exercised due care; fourth, want of averment, either of negligence, or express warranty of the fitness of the milk for human consumption.

On demurrer a declaration is construed against the pleader, but after verdict all intendments and presumptions are in its favor. If a declaration contains terms sufficiently general to include, by fair and reasonable intendment, any matter necessary to be proved, and without proof of which the jury could not have given the verdict, the want of an express averment of such matter is cured by the verdict. Sargent Co. v. Baublis, 215 Ill. 428.

The declaration is not based upon, negligence on the part of appellant, but is grounded upon the theory that appellant was engaged in the business of retailing groceries to the general public for their immediate use and consumption as food, the legal relationship between the deceased, his father and appellant; that from this relationship the implied. warranty that the law supplies, the breach of that warranty and the damages resulting to the next of kin of the deceased from the breach. The declaration charged that the milk sold by appellant caused the death of appellee’s intestate, and while the trial court may have required, on demurrer, more explicit allegations as to the precise details of the alleged facts which caused the injury, nevertheless after verdict, in view of the principles of law enunciated at length in the Baublis case,. supra, and in Greenwood v. Thompson Co., 213 Ill. App. 371, we are of the opinion that the declaration is sufficient to support the judgment.

Prior to the passage of the Uniform Sales Act, Cahill’s St. ch. 121a, ¶ 4 et seq., in 1915, it was held by the Supreme Court in Wiedeman v. Keller, 171 Ill. 93, that the decided weight of authority in the United States was that in all sales of meats and provisions for immediate domestic .use by a retail dealer, there was an implied warranty of fitness and wholesomeness for consumption. The Wiedeman case involved the sale of meat that was open to inspection, while the sale in the instant case was in a sealed tin container. In the Wiedeman case it was said,

“In an ordinary sale of goods the rule of caveat emptor applies, unless the purchaser exacts of the vendor a warranty. Where, however, articles of food are purchased from a retail dealer for immediate consumption, the consequences resulting from the purchase of an unsound article may be so serious and may prove so disastrous to the health and life of the consumer that public safety demands that there should be an implied warranty on the part of the vendor that the article sold is sound and fit for the use for which it was purchased. It may be said that the rule is a harsh one; but, as a general rule, in the sale of provisions the vendor has so many more facilities for ascertaining the soundness or unsoundness of the article offered for sale than are-possessed by the purchaser, that it is much safer to hold the vendor liable than it would be to compel the purchaser to assume the risk. Moreover, we have a statute which makes it a crime for any person to sell or offer to sell, or keep for sale, flesh of any diseased animal. (Hurd’s Stat. 507.) ”

In Chapman v. Roggenkamp, 182 Ill. App. 117, the Appellate Court for the First District considered the question of liability where a person was poisoned by eating unwholesome canned peas purchased of a retail dealer, and held that there was a responsibility predicated on an implied warranty that the peas were fit for food.

In Sloan v. Woolworth Co., 193 Ill. App. 620, the Appellate Court for the Third District reached the same conclusion as to the liability of a retail dealer for damages in the sale of canned goods, and held under the doctrine announced in the Weideman case, supra, there was no distinction as to liability based upon the fact that the goods sold for consumption were in sealed packages or tin containers.

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258 Ill. App. 307, 1930 Ill. App. LEXIS 579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bowman-v-woodway-stores-inc-illappct-1930.