DR. LUEL P. OVERSTREET, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. NORDEN LABORATORIES, INC., Defendant-Appellant, 669 F.2d 1286

Summary

Plaintiff was a veterinarian and operator of a standard bred horse farm. Defendant manufactured and sold a vaccine designed to inoculate horses against a certain virus that caused mares to abort their foals. Plaintiff allegedly learned of defendant's vaccine through promotional literature and a telephone conversation between defendant's representative and plaintiff's associate. Plaintiff ordered a quantity of the vaccine, allegedly based upon defendant's representations, and administered it to a number of his horses. Despite the vaccine, a number of plaintiff's mares aborted their foals. Plaintiff sued defendant for breach of expressed and implied warranties under Ky. Rev. Stat. §§ 355.2-313 and 2-314. The district court entered judgment in favor of plaintiff. The appellate court reversed the judgment because the district court failed to instruct the jury on reliance, and reliance was an element in an action for breach of an express warranty under § 355.2-313.