## Facts

- Wilhelm Winter and Cynthia Zheng bought *The Encyclopedia of Mushrooms* to assist in identifying and preparing wild mushrooms for consumption.
- The book was written by two British authors, first published in the United Kingdom, and later purchased and distributed in the United States by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
- Putnam distributed the completed book but did not write or edit it.
- In 1988, plaintiffs relied on the book’s descriptions to select mushrooms they believed were safe, cooked and ate them, and became critically ill.
- Both plaintiffs required liver transplants.
- Plaintiffs alleged the book contained erroneous and misleading information about identifying highly poisonous mushrooms.
- The complaint asserted strict products liability, breach of warranty, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and false representations under California law.

## Issues

1. Whether a book’s informational content (ideas, statements, expression) is a “product” subject to strict products liability.
2. Whether a publisher that distributes a nonfiction reference book owes a duty to investigate, verify, or warn about the accuracy of the book’s factual content for purposes of negligence-based and related claims.

## Decision

- The Ninth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
- The court held that the informational content of a book is not a “product” for strict products liability, even if the physical book itself is a product.
- The court held that, on these facts, the publisher owed no duty to investigate or verify the accuracy of the text it distributed and therefore could not be liable on plaintiffs’ negligence-based and related theories.

## Legal Principles

- Strict products liability generally applies to defective tangible products; intangible ideas and expression in published works are outside products liability doctrine.
- Tort law does not treat a publisher as strictly liable for harms caused by a reader’s reliance on erroneous statements in a general reference book.
- Absent a recognized duty to verify accuracy, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and similar claims against a publisher fail as a matter of law.
- Policy concerns about burdens on publishing and chilling effects on speech support limiting tort duties that would require broad fact-checking of published nonfiction.

## Conclusion

The court refused to extend products liability to the informational content of books and declined to impose a general duty on publishers to verify factual accuracy, resulting in affirmance of summary judgment for the distributor-publisher on all asserted theories.


Winter v. G.P. Putnam's Sons, 938 F.2d 1033 (9th Cir. 1991)