Name of the Case: Webster v. Blue Ship Tea Room, Inc.
Facts: The plaintiff, Priscilla Webster, accompanied by her sister and her aunt, visited the Blue Ship Tea Room on April 25, 1959. She ordered clam chowder and crabmeat salad; however, she was told that there was not anymore clam chowder, so she proceeded to order a cup of fish chowder. Although she was stirring the chowder and did not see anything unusual in it, after a few spoonfuls, she became aware that she had something lodged in her throat. Later it was discovered that it was a fish bone in her throat after two esophagoscopies. The plaintiff sued the defendant for breach of the implied warranty of merchantability.
Procedural History: The Superior Court of Suffolk County authored …show more content…
We should be prepared to cope with the hazards of fish bones, the occasional presence of which in chowders is, it seems to us, to be anticipated, and which, in the light of a hallowed tradition, do not impair their fitness or merchantability.” The court agrees that the implied warranty of merchantability was not impaired, therefore, ruling in favor of the defendant. The court knows that it cannot “tamper with age old recipes by any amendment reflecting the plaintiff's view of the effect of the Uniform Commercial Code upon them.” Even though the plaintiff wants to sue for breach of implied warranty of merchantability, the court believed that there was a “strong distinction between cases involving foreign substances in food and those relative to unwholesomeness of the food itself, e.g., tainted mackerel (Smith v. Gerrish, 256 Mass. 183 ), and a fish bone in a fish