## Facts

- A bean seller agreed to sell 905 bags of beans to Glanzer Bros., with the purchase price to be paid according to weight sheets certified by public weighers.
- The seller retained Core & Herbert, public weighers, to weigh the beans and provide weight certificates to the buyer for use in paying the seller.
- The weighers issued certificates stating the beans weighed 228,380 pounds and delivered a duplicate certificate directly to the buyer; the weighers noted the return was made by order of the seller “for” the buyer.
- The seller paid the weighers for the service.
- After a small portion of beans was withdrawn, the buyer accepted delivery and paid the seller in reliance on the certificates.
- The buyer later discovered the actual weight was 11,854 pounds less than the certified weight and sued the weighers to recover the resulting overpayment.

## Issues

1. Whether public weighers who certify weight at a seller’s request, knowing the certificate is prepared for and will be relied on by a specific buyer in paying the price, owe the buyer a duty of reasonable care in tort despite lack of privity.

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals affirmed judgment for the buyer.
- The court held the weighers owed a duty of care to the buyer because the buyer’s reliance was the intended and known purpose of the weighing and certification.
- The buyer could recover in negligence for the economic loss caused by an inaccurate certificate, even though the seller, not the buyer, hired and paid the weighers.

## Legal Principles

- Privity of contract is not required when a defendant undertakes, in the course of business, to supply certified information for the guidance of a specifically identified third party in a particular transaction.
- A duty of reasonable care arises where the third party’s reliance is the “end and aim” of the undertaking, not merely a collateral or accidental consequence.
- An information provider’s tort liability for negligent misrepresentation is bounded by the scope of the undertaking and the class of intended, known recipients, limiting exposure to indeterminate claims.

## Conclusion

The court imposed tort liability on public weighers who negligently overstated weight because they knew their certificate would be used by a particular buyer as the basis for payment; the absence of a direct contract did not bar recovery for the buyer’s economic loss.


Glanzer v. Shepard, 135 N.E. 275 (N.Y. 1922)