Warranty Law Leads to Payment of Claim For Leaking Ice Bag
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A Cumberland County shopper recovered $75,000.00 as a result of the injuries sustained when he slipped on water from a leaking bag of ice.
The jury found that the store was not negligent in failing to inspect the bag. However, the customer won her case because the jury found that the bag was defective and therefore breached the stores implied warranty of merchantability.
The law provides that the guarantee applied as soon as the customer pulled the bag out of the self-service freezer with the intent to buy it. Seconds after she pulled the bag out of the freezer, the bag tore open and the customer broke her ankle when he fell on the spilled ice and water.
The customer did not notice anything unusual about the bag when he picked it up and he did not see how the ice and water leaked from the bag.
The stores’ incident report stated that the bag was torn. However, the store, Harris Teeter, threw the bag away after the fall.
In upholding the jury’s verdict, the North Carolina Court of Appeals held that the warranty claim was strong enough to go to the jury. Under North Carolina Statute all products sold to the consumer carry with it an implied warranty of merchantability. This includes the requirement that the goods be adequately contained and packaged. In order to recover, the customer must prove that the goods were subject to the warranty that the goods were defective at the time of the sale and that injury resulted from a defect in the product.
The store had argued that the case should have been thrown out because the customer could only speculate that the bag of ice was defective at the time of the sale. The court disagreed and pointed out that when the customer removed the bag of ice from the bin with the intention of purchasing it, the sell was consummated. Further, the customer could account for his handling the bag of ice during the few seconds between when it was removed from the bin and when the ice and water spilled on the floor.
This case demonstrates a very important protection that consumers have in North Carolina. When a consumer is injured by a defective product, it is very difficult to prove that the manufacturer of the product was negligent. The consumer has no way of knowing what occurred when the product was manufactured and is usually unable to show negligence. However, the law which imposes a guarantee that products are safe provides a remedy for victims injured by defective products.