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Products Liability Keyed Owen, 8th Ed.
Winter v. G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Citation:
938 F.2d 1033 (1991)Facts
Wilhelm Winter and Cynthia Zheng purchased “The Encyclopedia of Mushrooms,” a reference guide containing information on the habitat, collection, and cooking of mushrooms. The book was written by British authors and originally published by a British publishing company. Defendant Putnam purchased copies from the British publisher and distributed them in the United States without writing or editing the content. In 1988, the plaintiffs went mushroom hunting and relied on the book’s descriptions to determine which mushrooms were safe to eat. After consuming the mushrooms they collected, both became critically ill and required liver transplants. They sued Putnam, alleging the book contained erroneous and misleading information about identifying deadly mushroom species, and sought damages under theories of products liability, breach of warranty, negligence, and misrepresentation.
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