Zerby v. Warren

Facts

On August 31, 1969, the Plaintiff, Steven Zerby, and his friend, Randy Rieken, went to the Coast-to-Coast store in Austin, Minnesota. The Plaintiff was 14 years old and Rieken was 13 years old. Coast-to-Coast was owned by Defendant Chester Warren who employed Defendant Robert Deike as a clerk in the store. Rieken purchased two pints of contact cement at the store from Defendant Dieke, who sold it within the scope and course of his employment at the store. The contact cement was a form of glue and contained toluene. The glue was also not part of a packaged kit for the construction of a model automobile, airplane, or similar item. At the time the sale was made, neither of the Defendants were aware that the sale violated a Minnesota Statute, Minn. St. 145.38, which had become effective on July 1 of that year. The statute recognized the potential harm that could happen to minors from sniffing glue and enacted provisions to control its sale and use.

After Rieken purchased the glue, he and the Plaintiff left and intentionally inhaled the fumes from the glue. The Plaintiff died as a result of sniffing the glue as the fumes had a negatively effect on his central nervous system, causing him to fall into a creek and drown.