Question

Buyer wished to paint the exterior of his house. He went to Seller, a local paint store owner, and asked him to recommend a paint for the job. Seller suggested a particular paint based on Buyer’s description of this house. Seller instructed Buyer how to mix the paint and how to prepare the surface. Five months later, the paint began to peel, flake, and blister. Buyer brings an action against Seller. Decision? (In your answer use the terms: implied warranty, merchant, merchantability, fitness for particular purpose)

Answer 1

The court will rule that the seller has breached the warranty. When the seller suggests a particular paint, it does not create any express warranty. But there are implied warranties that arise based on the situation. When the seller deals in the kind of goods sold, he/she is considered as a merchant, and implied warranty of merchantability arises automatically during every sale. Here the seller is a local paint store owner and hence considered as a merchant as he deals with paint in the ordinary course of business. As per implied warranty of merchantability, the goods sold should be reasonably fit for the ordinary purposes for which those goods are used. The paint sold is fit for the ordinary purpose of painting the house and hence we cannot say that the seller has breached the implied warranty of merchantability. But when the goods are sold for a particular purpose and the buyer relies on the skills and judgment of the seller to select suitable goods, implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose arises. Here the buyer has asked the seller to recommend a paint to paint the exterior of his house and the seller suggested the paint based on the buyer’s description of the house. The buyer had relied on the skills and judgment of the seller and mixed the paint and prepared the surface based on his instructions. Hence the implied warranty of fitness for the particular purpose has arisen. But the paint started to peel, flake, and blister after five months and it shows that the paint was not suitable for painting the exterior. Hence implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is breached here by the seller.