Cengage Advantage Books: Foundations of the Legal Environment of Business 3rd Edition by Marianne Jennings

تمرين 16

Castro v. QVC Network, Inc. 139 F.3d 114 (2d Cir. 1998)
A Turkey of a Pan: Liability on Thanksgiving Day
Facts
In November 1993, QVC Network (appellee), an operator of a cable television home-shopping channel, advertised, as part of a one-day Thanksgiving promotion, the "T-Fal Jumbo Resistal Roaster." The QVC ad described the roaster as suitable for roasting a 25-pound turkey. At the time that T-Fal and QVC entered into an agreement for the sale of the roasting pan, T-Fal did not have a pan in its line large enough to roast a 25-pound turkey. T-Fal asked its parent company in France to provide a suitable roasting pan as soon as possible. The parent company provided a larger pan to which it added two small handles.
Loyda Castro (appellant) ordered the roasting pan and used it for roasting her turkey on Thanksgiving Day, 1993. Mrs. Castro was injured when she tried to lift the pan from the oven, placing two oven-mitted fingers on each handle. Two fingers were the maximum grip permitted by the small handles. As the turkey tipped toward her, she lost control of the pan, spilling the hot drippings and fat that had accumulated in the pan during the cooking and basting process. Mrs. Castro suffered secondand third-degree burns to her foot and ankle, which have led to scarring, paresthesia, and swelling.
Mrs. Castro filed suit for strict liability and breach of warranty. The warranty charge was dismissed, and the jury returned a verdict for QVC and T-Fal. Mrs. Castro appealed.
Judicial Opinion
CALABRESI, Circuit Judge
[T]he pan was advertised as suitable for a particular use-cooking a twenty-five pound turkey. Indeed, T-Fal added handles to the pan in order to fill QVC's request for a roasting pan that it could use in its Thanksgiving promotion. The product was, therefore, sold as appropriately used for roasting a twenty-five pound turkey.
And it was in that use that allegedly the product failed and injured the appellant.
In such circumstances, the appellants were entitled to a separate breach of warranty charge.
Reversed.
Case Questions
1. How was the turkey pan purchased? Does it make a difference that it was purchased via TV?
2. What type of express warranty was made?
3. Would showing a large turkey being roasted in the pan on QVC be enough to constitute an express warranty, or would there need to be statements about its suitability for large birds?