153 N.Y.S. 131 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1915
The complaint in this action alleges, we believe, the purchase from the defendant by the plaintiff’s assignor of a Model
There is only one question involved, and that is whether the complaint states a cause of action; whether the defendant, under the facts alleged, owes the plaintiff for the damages sustained by the car in- running over the embankment. The respondent puts the proposition:
“Is the manufacturer of an automobile liable for injuries received by the purchaser thereof owing to the fact that a brake band, constructed of inferior material, gave out or collapsed under ordinary use, also owing to the fact that said car was improperly, assembled by said manufacturer, although the vehicle was not purchased directly from the manufacturer, but from an agent to whom it was sold?”
The learned court at Special Term has, in effect, answered this question in the affirmative, and the defendant urges that this is erroneous, and asks for a reversal of the order and the granting of the motion for judgment. The case, notwithstanding the allegation in effect that the plaintiff’s assignor purchased the car of the defendant through its agent, is presented here upon the theory that the purchase was made from the defendant’s agent, who had purchased the same from the defendant, so that there was no contractual relation between Mr. Demajrest, the original purchaser, and the defendant. In other words, there is no contention here that there was any breach of the implied warranty that the car was reasonably adapted to the use for which it was purchased; but it is urged that the defendant, in putting upon the market an inherently dangerous instrument or machine, owed to Mr. Demarest and the public generally the duty of exercising reasonable care and diligence to make the machine safe for the use of the purchaser or user. The appellant states “the actual question for determination” to be:
“Does the manufacturer of a machine, not inherently dangerous to human life or limb, but which, being defectively constructed and sold in the open market by the manufacturer thereof, causes injuries solely to such machine, produced wholly by reason of such defective construction, constitute negligence on the part of such manufacturer? If so, is such manufacturer liable on the ground of such negligence for the injuries to such machine itself f”
This question concedes the proposition that a manufacturer in sending out an inherently dangerous machine, one inimical to the life and limb of human beings, would be liable to one suffering personal injury from negligent construction of such machine, but seems to draw a distinction between the duties of the manufacturer in reference to injuries to the machine itself. We think there is no well-founded ground for such a distinction. A modern automobile, properly equipped with brakes, and assembled in harmony with the plans underlying the construction, is not inherently a dangerous machine. In the hands of a reasonably intelligent and careful operator, it involves no greater haz
The suggestion that this doctrine enlarges the liability of the manufacturer beyond what he assumes in warranting the machine is, in our opinion, without force. The contract of warranty simply provides for the quality of workmanship and materials; the plaintiff in the present case (or her predecessor in interest) would have been entitled to have the defective brake materials replaced with proper ones, we may
The order appealed from should be affirmed, with costs. All concur.