Skelton v. Druid City Hospital Board

M. C. Skelton (plaintiff) was operated on at a public hospital run by the Druid City Hospital Board (the hospital) (defendant). During the operation, a suturing needle broke off in Skelton’s body and remained there after the surgery. Skelton and his wife (plaintiff) filed a complaint against the hospital, the manufacturer and distributor of the needles, and the doctor who performed the operation. The Skeltons claim against the hospital alleged negligence based on a theory of breach of implied warranty. The Skeltons argued that the needle was not fit for its intended purpose, and that M.C. was injured as a direct result. The hospital filed a motion to dismiss, or in the alternative, a motion for summary judgment, arguing that it was a provider of services, not goods, and that the needle was a piece of equipment incidental to the surgery provided. The Skeltons argued that a warranty for the needle did exist. The Alabama Uniform Commercial Code § 7-2-315, Code 1975 (the code), imposed a warranty of fitness for a particular purpose on sellers if they had a reason to know of any particular purpose for which a buyer required goods and that the buyer was relying on the seller’s skill or judgment, unless a warranty was expressly excluded or modified. The trial court granted the hospital’s motion for summary judgment on the ground that no warranty existed because the hospital was not a seller of goods under the code. The Skeltons appealed.