Sales and Leases | 196
Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose Section 2-315 sets forth yet another implied warranty in Article 2, namely, the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. This warranty applies if, at the time of contracting, the seller has reason to know (1) any particular purpose for which the buyer requires the goods and (2) that the buyer relies on the seller’s judgment or skill to provide or select suitable goods. Here, unless the warranty is excluded or modified under § 2-316, there is an implied warranty that the goods will be fit for the particular purpose. [U.C.C. § 2-315 (1951).] 1. Seller’s Merchant Status as Irrelevant to the Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose As mentioned, the implied warranty of merchantability applies only if the seller is a merchant with respect to goods of the kind. By contrast, the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose can apply regardless of whether the seller is a merchant at all. [ See U.C.C. § 2-315, cmt. 4 (1951); 2 Hawkland UCC Series § 2-315:1, Westlaw (database updated June 2021).] 2. Buyer’s Particular Purpose for the Goods The implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose assumes, true to its name, that the buyer has a specific purpose for the goods. Accordingly, for the warranty to apply at all, many courts hold that the buyer must have some purpose for the goods other than their ordinary purpose (or purposes). Under this view, if the buyer needs the goods only for their ordinary purpose, then the warranty does not apply. Here, the buyer’s purpose need not be totally idiosyncratic, and it does not necessarily matter that other buyers might put the goods to the same use. Rather, what matters is whether the buyer’s specific purpose for the goods is different enough from the goods’ ordinary, customary use (or ordinary, customary uses). In theory, this distinction might seem easy to draw, but in practical reality, courts have struggled with it. [ See 2 Hawkland UCC Series § 2-315:1, Westlaw (database updated June 2021); Ordinary Purpose v. Particular Purpose, supra .] Example : A mountain climber went to a shoe store, where she informed the salesperson that she wanted boots suited for climbing cold, sheer, snow-covered mountainsides. Here, the implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose may apply. The ordinary purpose of boots and shoes is walking on ground. Mountain climbing may arguably be a subset of that purpose, but mountain climbing is a distinct enough purpose to make it particular, not entirely ordinary. Thus, because the mountain climber informed the seller of her particular purpose for the boots, the store must, if it can, provide boots suitable for that purpose (or else decline the sale). [ See U.C.C. § 2-315, cmt. 2 (1951).]
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