Khan v. Velsicol Chemical Corp.

711 S.W.2d 310, 1 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1114, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 7767
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 25, 1986
Docket05-84-00711-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 711 S.W.2d 310 (Khan v. Velsicol Chemical Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Khan v. Velsicol Chemical Corp., 711 S.W.2d 310, 1 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1114, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 7767 (Tex. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING

STOREY, Justice.

In this product-liability case, summary judgment was rendered for the manufacturer. Amanullah Khan and members of his family sued Miss Phoebe’s Pest Control, Inc. and Velsicol Chemical Corporation for personal injuries and property damage resulting from Miss Phoebe’s application to their home of a termiticide manufactured and supplied by Velsicol. The Khans’ suit against Velsicol alleges strict liability in tort, breach of an implied warranty under sections 2.314 and 2.315 of the Texas Business and Commerce Code, breach of common law warranty, and violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Vel-sicol moved for summary judgment asserting that, upon undisputed facts, it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law because: (1) Miss Phoebe, who treated the Khans’ home for termites, was a “learned intermediary” between Velsicol and Khan, (2) Miss Phoebe’s misuse of the termiticide was the sole producing cause of the injury, (3) Miss Phoebe was the Khans’ agent, and (4) the Khans did not as a matter of law rely on any representation made by Velsi-col. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of Velsicol and severed the Khans’ claim against Miss Phoebe. We reverse and remand.

Facts

The material facts are undisputed. Vel-sicol manufactures and sells a termiticide known in the trade as Gold Crest C-100, an emulsifiable concentrate containing chlordane as its principal active ingredient. It is admittedly toxic — its purpose is to rid homes and other structures of termites and other insects. Therefore, it is inherently dangerous. Gold Crest C-100 is not unreasonably dangerous when properly put to its intended use. It is manufactured and sold by Velsicol in five-gallon containers to distributors who in turn sell to professional applicators such as Miss Phoebe for their use only. The label clearly instructs “FOR USE BY PROFESSIONAL PCO’S.”

Miss Phoebe purchased the Gold Crest C-100 concentrate in a five-gallon container. In accordance with label instructions, one gallon of the concentrate was then mixed with 99 gallons of water to form a 1% solution. The solution was prepared at Miss Phoebe’s offices in a one-hundred-gallon tank aboard a pick-up truck, then transported to the Khan home where it was applied directly from the tank by means of a low-pressure hose. The solution was prepared and applied by Miss Phoebe’s service operator, John Long.

There is no claim that the particular lot or container of Gold Crest C-100 used in preparing the solution and in treating the Khans’ home was defective. It was manufactured and marketed precisely as Velsicol intended. The “defect” making the product unreasonably dangerous, and thus giving rise to the Khans’ action in strict liability, was Velsicol’s alleged placing of the product into the stream of commerce without adequate warnings and instructions for its use. Specifically, the Khans complain that Velsicol failed to adequately warn or give instructions either to them or to Miss Phoebe concerning the very event that occurred at the Khan home: Miss Phoebe’s service operator, Long, drilled a hole into the concrete slab foundation of the home, pierced an air-conditioning duct encased within the slab, and proceeded to induce an unknown quantity of Gold Crest C-100 into the duct.

Duty to Warn and Instruct

Velsicol contends that because its product was purchased and used only by professional applicators trained in its use, it owed no duty to warn or instruct the Khans concerning its safe use, but instead its duty to warn was limited to Miss Phoebe, who *313 had full knowledge of the danger and was fully instructed. Velsicol would have us apply the “learned intermediary” doctrine to the circumstances of this case.

The rationale supporting the learned intermediary exception to the manufacturer’s duty to warn the consumer in products liability cases is well stated in Reyes v. Wyeth, Laboratories, 498 F.2d 1264, 1276 (5th Cir.1974):

Prescription drugs are likely to be complex medicines, esoteric in formula and varied in effect. As a medical expert, the prescribing physician can take into account the propensities of the drug, as well as susceptibilities of his patient. His is the task of weighing the benefits of any medication against its potential dangers. The choice he makes is an informed one, an individualized medical judgment bottomed on a knowledge of both patient and palliative.

The Texas Supreme Court has never explicitly approved the learned intermediary doctrine, although it has been approved by intermediate appellate courts in Texas. See, e.g., Cooper v. Bowser, 610 S.W.2d 825, 830-31 (Tex.Civ.App. — Tyler 1980, no writ); Bristol-Myers Co. v. Gonzales, 548 S.W.2d 416, 425 (Tex.Civ.App. — Corpus Christi 1977), rev’d on other grounds, 561 S.W.2d 801 (Tex.1978); Gravis v. Parke-Davis & Co., 502 S.W. 863, 870 (Tex.Civ. App. — Corpus Christi 1973, writ ref d n.r. e.). This doctrine has consistently been limited in its application in Texas and elsewhere to the prescription drug, physician-patient relationship. For these reasons, we are unwilling to extend the exception to the circumstances of this case. Additionally, we cannot attribute to the termiticide applicator the ability to exercise the individualized judgment in weighing benefit against danger that we ascribe to the physician. This is true because, as we observe later in this opinion, the termiticide applicator gains a substantial part of his expertise in the field from his manufacturer or supplier rather than from independent sources.

Closely akin to the learned intermediary exception, as it relates to the duty to warn the ultimate consumer, is the rule applied in some jurisdictions to sellers of goods in bulk. Indeed, Velsicol interprets these authorities as applying the learned intermediary exception. However, the rationale supporting the bulk seller exception is different — it appears to be a question of feasibility and practicality. Shell Oil Co. v. Harrison, 425 So.2d 67, 70 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1982, pet. for rev. denied); Jones v. Hittle Service, Inc., 219 Kan. 627, 549 P.2d 1383, 1394 (1976); see also Aim v. Aluminum Co. of America, 687 S.W.2d 374, 382 (Tex.App. — Houston [14th Dist.] 1985, writ granted). These authorities, for example, seem to base their holdings on the proposition that the bulk seller has no means of identifying or communicating with the ultimate consumer. Hence, these authorities hold that the bulk seller has no duty to warn the ultimate consumer, but only to warn the distributor or retailer.

In Shell Oil Co., Shell, the manufacturer, sold its fungicide to Kerr-McGee in 30-gallon steel containers. Kerr-McGee then sold the product to its distributors, who sold it to retailers, who finally sold it to the consumer in one-gallon glass jars.

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711 S.W.2d 310, 1 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. 2d (West) 1114, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 7767, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/khan-v-velsicol-chemical-corp-texapp-1986.