HOPKINS v. VITA FOOD PROD., N. GROCERY CO., 297 N.Y. 546 (1947)

74 N.E.2d 475

JOHN HOPKINS et al., Appellants and Respondents, et al., Plaintiffs, v. VITA FOOD PRODUCTS, INC., Defendant, and NATIONAL GROCERY COMPANY, Respondent and Appellant.

Court of Appeals of the State of New York.Argued May 22, 1947
Decided July 2, 1947

Appeal from the Supreme Court, Appellate Division, First Department, COLLINS, J.

Page 547

A. Harold Frost and Bernard Jenkin for plaintiffs, appellants and respondents.

William L. Shumate for defendant, respondent and appellant.

Judgment modified by reversing so much thereof as permits recovery of $2,000 to plaintiff Addie Hopkins, and, as so modified, affirmed upon the ground that the evidence establishes that plaintiff wife was agent for plaintiff husband in purchasing the crab meat for the family and that, consequently, under the applicable law of New Jersey, the latter was the purchaser to whom alone the implied warranty of fitness runs. (See Stave v Giant Food Arcade, 125 N.J.L. 512; Schlosser v. Goldberg, 123 N.J.L. 470; Auten v. Johnston, 115 N.J.L. 71, 75-76. See, also, Gimenez v. Great Atlantic Pacific Tea Co., 264 N.Y. 390; Gearing v. Berkson, 223 Mass. 257; Hazelton v. First Nat. Stores, Inc., 88 N.H. 409.)