Kansas City Wholesale Grocery Co. v. Weber Packing Corp.
Kansas City Wholesale Grocery Co. v. Weber Packing Corp., 1937 Utah LEXIS 67 (1937)
Winning Party
Kansas City Wholesale Grocery Company
Court
Utah Supreme CourtKey Issue
Breach of Implied Warranty
Case Type
CIVIL
Facts
•
The presence of mold could only be discovered by a careful microscopic examination.
•
The grocery company is a Missouri corporation and has never complied with Utah laws to do business in Utah.
•
The catsup was found to contain a mold filament in 67% of the microscopic fields examined.
•
An inspector of the Federal Food & Drug Administration examined 271 unsold cases of catsup in the plaintiff's warehouse.
•
Federal regulations condemn catsup containing mold in excess of 66% of the microscopic fields examined as unfit for food.
•
Weber Packing Corporation sold and shipped 303 cases of tomato catsup to Kansas City Wholesale Grocery Company.
•
The grocery company brought an action to recover the amount paid for the destroyed catsup, plus interest.
•
The contract was made in Utah and fulfilled by the packing corporation by delivering the goods to a carrier for transportation to Kansas City in interstate commerce.
•
A libel was prosecuted by the government in the United States District Court at Kansas City, and the 271 cases of catsup were condemned and destroyed.
•
The contract provided that all claims except for 'swells' must be presented within ten days from the receipt of the goods.
•
The claim for the presence of mold was not made within ten days of receipt of the goods.
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Key Holdings
•
The evidence offered and received, together with that offered and rejected, was sufficient to go to the jury on the question of whether the catsup when shipped by defendant failed to comply with the requirements of the federal law.
•
The decree of condemnation by the federal court is binding on all parties in interest because proper notice was given by publication, as required by Admiralty Rule 9 (now Rule 10), and the defendant had sufficient notice of the government's actions.
•
The plaintiff's purchase of goods in Utah for shipment to Missouri does not constitute 'doing business' in Utah within the meaning of the statute regulating foreign corporations, as it is a transaction in interstate commerce.
•
The contract provision limiting the time for making claims does not apply to latent defects, such as the presence of mold, which could not be discovered by ordinary inspection.
•
The transaction was within the operation of the Federal Food and Drug Act because the packing corporation knew the catsup was intended for shipment in interstate commerce and placed the goods in the channels of such commerce.
Citations
Kansas City Wholesale Grocery Co. v. Weber Packing Corp., 1937 Utah LEXIS 67, 93 Utah 414, 73 P.2d 1272 (1937)
Legal Reasoning
The court reasoned that the plaintiff was not 'doing business' in Utah, the transaction was in interstate commerce and subject to the Federal Food and Drug Act, the contract's time limitation for claims did not apply to latent defects, the condemnation by the federal government was binding due to proper notice, and there was sufficient evidence to present to the jury the question of whether the catsup failed to comply with federal law.
Outcome
The judgment for the defendant was reversed, and the cause was remanded for a new trial.
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