Cannon v. Yankee Products Co., Inc.

59 Mass. App. Dec. 169 (1977)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P owned a restaurant that had a seating capacity for fifty-five customers, with twenty-two of those at the counter and the remainder at tables. The staff consisted of P who was a cook and assistant short-order cook at noon and his wife, one short-order cook, and, when busy, another waitress. P purchased vegetables from D on a weekly basis and dealt with the same route salesman for three years. P purchased the same brand of canned sweet peas packed by Oco through D, for a period of six months to one year. D's salesman told P that the peas were a good product, a big pea, good tasting, not hard and that he and his customers would be satisfied with them and this is the very 'best brand you can buy, good flavor, wholesome and will please your customers thus increasing your business. P served those peas to a customer who discovered a skinny, green, dead worm in them 1 and 1/3^rd inches in length. The customer 'made a stink” thereover in the presence of about fifty-five fellow patrons. P refunded the price of the specially-priced meals which had been served with the peas in question to the respective purchasers but the 'word spread” and about thirty patrons walked out and P refunded the price of their dinners to them. Afterward, P observed a reduction in the number of customers. P increased the number of hours of doing business but to no avail. P sold the business on February 1, 1971. P sued D for breach of express and implied warranties and negligence. P presented evidence of diminished sales. P’s average monthly diminution of receipts was $636.90 computed by subtracting the monthly average after the incident from the monthly average before. That put P’s loss or sales at $7,622.80 over one year. The court awarded P that amount and D appealed.