Lieberman v. Sheffield Farms

117 Misc. 531
CourtAppellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
DecidedDecember 15, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 117 Misc. 531 (Lieberman v. Sheffield Farms) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lieberman v. Sheffield Farms, 117 Misc. 531 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

Kelby, J.

On the 23d of August, 1919, the plaintiff’s mother and present guardian ad litem bought from the defendant a quart bottle of “Certified Milk.” This milk was for the use of the infant plaintiff, who was then eighteen months old. The certified milk was contained in a standard quart milk bottle and had [533]*533embossed on the sides thereof the following words: “ Sheffield Farms Slawson Decker Co.” The bottle was tightly sealed when received by the buyer and the caps were on very tight. The cap or paper hood which sealed-the bottle, among other things, had printed on it the following: “ Sheffield Farms Co. Inc. Bottled at Wilmarth Farms.” These words were arrayed in the form of a circle, and in an inner circle on the paper hood were contained the following words: “ Milk Commission of the Medical Society of the County of Kings.” Also in circular form and further within the circle was the legend ‘ ‘ Grade A Raw ’ ’ and the word ‘ ‘ Certified ’ ’ in large letters in red ink, and in small letters under the word “ Certified ” appeared in smaller type the words, “ Milk shipped from Kingsley, Pa.,” followed on a single line by the word “ Tuesday ” in red ink. This bottle of milk was opened by the plaintiff’s mother, who added to the milk boiled water, the milk so diluted to be used by the infant plaintiff as food. Toward evening, on the same day, the infant plaintiff became sick. An examination of the bottle by the plaintiff’s father showed small worms attached to the inside of the glass bottle. The remainder of the milk was kept by the plaintiff’s guardians and delivered to their family physician. The physician when called testified that the child had a temperature of 101, was vomiting, had a green stool, and had a distended abdomen; and the physician’s diagnosis was gastrointeritis or inflamed condition of the stomach and intestines. The same doctor also testified that the inner surface of the bottle containing the milk was saturated with little organisms or worms, and that the nearest thing he could compare these organisms with were “ dragon fly larvae.” The doctor also testified that the presence of these organisms in the milk was a competent producing cause for the child’s illness.

[534]*534The doctor called by the defendant and who was authorized by the Kings County Medical Society to pass upon' the milk produced at the Wilmarth Farms testified that, on one occasion, four years prior to the one in question, worms were present in the milk. The doctor indicated that these worms came from a reservoir used for the storage of water and that the worms had-gotten into the reservoir from the surface, and that the water was used to wash the rims of the bottles and in that way the worms got into the bottle.

The complaint in the action proceeded upon the theory of negligence, alleging, among other things, that the illness of the infant was due to the carelessness, recklessness, and negligence on the part of the defendant in the preparation of said milk and without any negligence on the part of the infant plaintiff, or that of his guardian, contributing thereto. The complaint also contained an allegation that .the milk was entirely unfit for human consumption and contained worms, and that these caused the infant plaintiff to become sick.

• At the close of the testimony the plaintiff moved to amend the'-complaint to conform to the proof “and also to raise the question — proceed on the theory of implied warranty on the part of the defendant; that milk sold by the defendant to the plaintiff or any other consumer is warranted as being fit for human consumption.” The court allowed this amendment. '

■ The learned trial justice in rendering his decision on the case stated: “ Upon the trial it was conceded that the defendant was guilty of no negligence. But the plaintiff claims on the theory that there was an implied warranty in the sale of the milk.” According to the record, just quoted above, this was clearly a misapprehension, the plaintiff standing both on the action of negligence and also on that of implied war[535]*535ranty. It thus appears that the court did not pass upon any alleged claim or cause of action for negligence.

It appears from the evidence that the milk in question was “ certified milk,” and that it was produced at the Wilmarth Farms, Kingsley, Penn. That the bottles and caps were furnished by the defendant, but that the actual bottling and sealing thereof was done at the Wilmarth Farms, and that no employees of the defendant. were employed at the Wilmarth Farms, nor was any employee of the defendant engaged in the bottling process.- The defendant corporation was a distributor of the milk.

The court below believing that there was but one cause of action, an implied warranty, before it for decision, rendered judgment in favor of the defendant. In making this decision the court relied upon certain expressions in the opinions in Race v. Krum, 222 N. Y. 410, 415; Zenkel v. Oneida County Creameries Co., 104 Misc. Rep. 251, 252; Rosenbusch v. Ambrosia Milk Corp., 181 App. Div. 97, 100. The first two are cases resting on an implied warranty, and the third rested upon negligence alone.

The term Certified Milk ” is defined' in section 32 of the Agricultural Law, which reads in part as follows: “ No person shall sell, or exchange or offer or expose for sale or exchange, any unclean, impure, unhealthy, adulterated or unwholesome milk, or any cream from the same, * * *. No person shall sell or exchange, or offer or expose for sale or exchange, as and for certified milk, any milk which does not conform, to the regulations prescribed by and bear the certification of a milk commission appointed by a county medical society organized under and chartered by the medical society of the state of New York and which has not been pronounced by such authority to [536]*536be free from antiseptics, added preservatives, and pathogenic bacteria, or bacteria in excessive numbers. All milk sold as certified milk shall be conspicuously marked with the name of the commission certifying it.”

The rules aud regulations of the department of health, which are effective and have the force of ordinances in the city of New York, provide as follows: “ Certified Milk is milk certified by a Milk Commission appointed by the Medical Society of the County of New York, or the Medical Society of the County of Kings, as being produced under the supervision and in conformity with the requirements of that Commission as laid down for certifying, and sold under a permit therefor, issued by the Board of Health.”

It is also provided that “ The milk should be delivered to the consumer only in sealed bottles which have been sealed at the dairy.”

The bottle of milk in question was sealed in conformity with the standards of the Kings County Medical Society.

The case of Rinaldi v. Mohican Company, 225 N. Y. 70, construes section 96 of the Personal Property Law, which has reference to implied warranties of quality. Subdivision 1 of that section reads as follows: “Where the buyer, expressly or by implication, makes known to the seller the particular purpose for which the goods are required, and it appears that the buyer relies on the seller’s skill or judgment (whether he be the grower or manufacturer or not), there is an implied warranty that the goods shall be reasonably fit for such purpose.”

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Bluebook (online)
117 Misc. 531, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lieberman-v-sheffield-farms-nyappterm-1921.