Daniel E. Tranen (Partner-St. Louis, Mo) and Gustavo A. Martinez Tristani (Partner-Miami) obtained dismissal for a large warehouse club client in a product liability lawsuit brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.
The plaintiffs, a husband and wife, claimed the husband contracted E. coli after eating carrots purchased at the client’s store in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, resulting in personal injuries and loss of consortium. The plaintiffs alleged that the carrots constituted a defective product under Puerto Rico law and sued under theories of negligence, breach of warranty, and strict liability.
Daniel and Gustavo filed a motion to dismiss, arguing the complaint failed to state a cause of action under any of the asserted theories because it failed to adequately allege a breach of duty and because the carrots were not a defective product as a matter of law.
The plaintiffs countered that our client was liable for breaching an implied warranty that products sold for human consumption are fit for human consumption and free of defects. In a nine-page opinion, the trial court dismissed the action with prejudice, holding that the complaint failed to state a cause of action because it failed to allege that the carrots became contaminated with E. coli through a manufacturing process and because they were not a defective product as a matter of law.