## Facts

- Skinner manufactured and sold “machine cards” used in textile carding machinery.
- Skinner publicly advertised the cards as “warranted equal to any in America.”
- Goulding purchased machine cards from Skinner.
- The written purchase documentation did not restate the advertisement’s “warranted” language and contained no explicit written warranty clause.
- After purchase, Goulding claimed the cards were not good or merchantable, were of little to no value, and failed to meet the quality represented in the advertisement.
- Goulding sued Skinner for breach of warranty based on the advertisement.

## Issues

1. Whether an advertisement stating goods are “warranted equal to any in America” can constitute an express warranty to a purchaser who buys in reliance on it, even if the later purchase writing omits the statement.
2. Whether the statement should be treated as enforceable warranty language rather than nonbinding sales talk.
3. Whether the trial court erred by instructing the jury that the advertisement was equivalent to an express warranty.

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts sustained the verdict for Goulding.
- The court held it was not error to allow the jury to treat the advertisement’s “warranted equal to any in America” language as an express warranty.
- Skinner was not entitled to a new trial on the ground that an advertisement cannot create a warranty.

## Legal Principles

- A seller’s advertisement can create an express warranty when it uses clear warranty terminology and makes a sufficiently definite quality representation.
- Such warranty language may be treated as part of the bargain when it is used to induce purchases and the buyer relies on it, even if the final written sale documents do not restate it.
- Representations that go beyond general praise and commit to a measurable quality standard can support liability when the goods fail to meet at least ordinary, merchantable quality.

## Conclusion

The court treated the seller’s “warranted” advertising claim as an enforceable express warranty and upheld the buyer’s recovery where the goods were alleged to be unmerchantable and of little value, rejecting the argument that the warranty had to appear in the written purchase documentation.


Goulding v. Skinner, 18 Mass. (1 Pick.) 162 (1822)