Frost Insecticide Co. v. American Cyanamid Chemical Corp.

3 Mass. App. Div. 269

This text of 3 Mass. App. Div. 269 (Frost Insecticide Co. v. American Cyanamid Chemical Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts District Court, Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frost Insecticide Co. v. American Cyanamid Chemical Corp., 3 Mass. App. Div. 269 (Mass. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

Carr, J.

There are two reports before us. The first alleges that the plaintiff is aggrieved by the sustaining of the defendant’s demurrer to its declaration; the second, that it is aggrieved by the refusal of its motion to amend its declaration after the demurrer was sustained.

We deal with the two questions in the order named.

The plaintiff in its declaration seeks to recover counsel fees incurred in defending an action of tort brought against it by one Catalano in these circumstances. The defendant, a manufacturer, sold the article to Breck & Sons Corporation which sold it to the plaintiff which sold it to Catalano who applied it to his tomato and cucumber plants after using bordeaux mixture and thereby ruined the plants.

The defendant demurred to the declaration. The action of the trial judge in sustaining the demurrer is before us. The demurrer was rightly sustained because (1) the declaration shows no legal wrong done by the defendant either to Catalano or to the plaintiff. (2) Because of this and other reasons set forth plaintiff has not stated a case where counsel fees may be recovered.

The well established rule is that the manufacturer of an article, while he may be liable in contract or tort to the person with whom he has contractual relations as to the article, is not liable to third persons with whom he has no privity except in certain limited situations. Davidson v. Nichols, 11 Allen 514, 518; Pitman v. Lyrm Gas & El. Co., 241 Mass. 322, 323.

[271]*271For negligence in the manufacture and sale of an ordinary article, in the absence of active misrepresentation, which continues into the hands of the injured party he is not liable to a third party. Lebourdais v. Vitrified Wheel Co., 194 Mass. 341; Windram Mfgr. Co. v. Boston Blacking Co., 239 Mass. 123; Tompkins v. Quaker Oats Co., 239 Mass. 147; Christensen v. Bremer, 263 Mass. 129; Kusick v. Thorndike & Hix Inc., 224 Mass. 413; Gilberti v. Barrett Mfgr. Co., 266 Mass. 70; Bedrrange v. Hinckley Rendering Co., 230 Mass. 93.

Mere withholding of information as to an ordinary article does not make him liable to such third party. Windram Mfgr. Co. v. Boston Blacking Co., 239 Mass. 123,126.

The manufacturer may be liable to a third party in an action for deceit where he makes a misrepresentation as to an article which representation is known to and relied upon by the third party, i. e. where the representation is “continuous” if the necessary elements of an action of deceit are found. Roberts v. Anheuser Busch Brewing Assoc., 211 Mass.; cf. Newhall v. Ward Baking Co., 240 Mass. 434.

The manufacturer may be liable for personal injury to a third person in connection- with the manufacture and sale of two classes of articles — (a) Food for human consumption. (b) Substances inherently dangerous to human life or health, — such as drugs and explosives.

In the last two classes the liability may be for negligence in the manufacture, for failure to give notice of the inherently dangerous nature of the substance or for misbranding or misrepresentation as to the substance. Richenbacher v. California Packing Corp., 250 Mass. 198; Tonsman v. Greenglass, 248 Mass. 275; Farley v. Edward E. Town Co., 271 Mass. 230; Norton v. Sewall, 106 Mass. 143; Pitman v. Lynn Gas & Elec. Co., 241 Mass. 322; Guinan v. [272]*272Famous Players-Lasky Gory., 267 Mass. 501, 511, 514; Thornhill v. Carpenter-Morton Co., 220 Mass. 593.

There is no duty to warn unless the person on whom the duty would be cast has some reason to suppose that warning is needed; a fortiori there is no duty to warn where no warning is needed. Cadagan v. Boston Consolidated Gas Co., 290 Mass. 496, 499. Gallo v. Leahy, 1937 A. S. 675, 678.

No Massachusetts decision has been shown to us, and we have found no such decision, where in the absence of active and continuous misrepresentation a manufacturer has been held liable, in connection with food or articles inherently dangerous to human life or health, for injury to the property of third persons, much less where the article is only inherently dangerous to animal or plant life.

Cases where the manufacturer is in privity with the person whose property is injured or where he commits a tort directly against a third person are numerous and have no immediate bearing on the questions before us. cf. Barabe v. Duhrkop Oven Co., 231 Mass. 466; cf. Kelly v. Pittsfield Coal Gas Co., 257 Mass. 441; as to which see . . . Gilberti v. Barrett Mfgr. Co., 266 Mass. 70, 73. cf. Boston & Albany R. R. Co. v. Shanly and Carney v. Same, 107 Mass. 568, where the injury was direct or while an agency for the manufacturer continued, cf. Leavitt v. Fiberloid Co., 196 Mass. 440.

If for the purpose of this discussion we assume that a manufacturer of an article inherently dangerous to animal or plant life is liable for injury to property of a party against whom he commits no direct tort and with whom he has no privity, (under the same conditions as he would be liable for personal injuries in connection with substances inherently dangerous to human life or health) the declaration sets forth no cause of action within the principles laid down.

[273]*273Stripped of its verbiage the complaint in the declaration (as to the sale of the Cyanogas) is as follows: that the defendant was the manufacturer of Cyanogas; that it is inherently dangerous both to animal and plant life; that the plaintiff bought it of Breck' & Sons; that plaintiff sold it to Catalano who told plaintiff he was buying it to fumigate tomato and cucumber crop; that both defendant and Breck knew plaintiff would sell it for said purpose and knew or ought to know that Catalano might or would use it after the application of bordeaux mixture and that such use would be fatal to the crop; that both defendant and Breck & Sons sold it without any warning on the can or in the instruction leaflet inside the can, relating to the danger of use of Cyanogas after bordeaux mixture; that the plaintiff so used the Cyanogas and his crop was ruined.

It is at once strikingly obvious that the lack of notice is limited (1) to failure to give it in two specific ways (a) on the can and (b) in a leaflet in the can and (2) to the effect of its use after bordeaux mixture only. There is no allegation as to what notice if any was given. There is no statement as to the purpose for which Cyanogas is made nor as to any statement of its purpose accompanying the article. There is no allegation as to what if anything was stated on the can or on the leaflet in the can. For that matter, the warning may have been on the carton or wrapper containing the can or otherwise. So far as appears, on can and leaflet and otherwise the formula of Cyanogas may have been given and it may have been stated that ■Cyanogas was inherently dangerous to plant and animal life and to be used only- for the purpose of killing, for example the extermination of weeds and destruction of moles. It seems obvious that failure to state on the can or in the leaflet the danger of using Cyanogas after bordeaux is not negligent if adequate notice was otherwise [274]*274given nor in failure to mention bordeaux particularly if the general subject was covered.

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3 Mass. App. Div. 269, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frost-insecticide-co-v-american-cyanamid-chemical-corp-massdistctapp-1938.