The Tribe family moved to
Wyoming and bought their first horse from the Petersons.
Some time after buying the
horse, both Tribes (husband and wife) were separately thrown off the
horse. Mr. Tribe broke his wrist.
Tribe sued for breach of
warranty
Tribe argued that that the
Petersons had guaranteed that horse would be "gentle." He also
argued that the Petersons negligently and fraudulently misrepresented the
horse's nature.
That is known as an express
warranty.
Express warranties for sale of goods are codified in UCC
§2-313(1)(b), which says, "any description of the goods
which is made part of the basis of the bargain creates an express
warranty that the goods shall conform to the description."
In order for a seller to
make an express warranty, they
must make a statement of fact that relates to the goods and becomes
part of the bargain.
The Petersons argued that it
would be impossible to guarantee a horse wouldn't buck, so they would
never have made such an express warranty.
The Trial Court found for the
Petersons. Tribe appealed.
Appellate Court affirmed.
Tribe appealed.
Wyoming Supreme Court
affirmed.
The Courts all found that
there was no misrepresentation. The horse was gentle, but even gentle
horses throw riders sometimes.
Basically the Courts said
that any horse seller would know that it was not possible to guarantee
anything with regards to horse attitudes, so there was no way the
Petersons would have made an express warrantee.
