James Schuster, a sole proprietor doing business as Diversey Heating and Plumbing, contracted with Vernon to install and maintain a boiler in his building.

Schuster also promised Vernon a 10-year warranty, and the parties agreed to a long-term service agreement whereby Schuster was to perform an annual prewinter inspection of the boiler and render any service needed for upkeep.

Schuster performed the services for a period of three years, but he died in October 1993 before performing the pre-winter inspection on Vernon’s boiler.

After Schuster died, his son Jerry Schuster began to operate Diversey and serve Diversey customers. In February 1994, Vernon discovered that the boiler was broken beyond repair and needed to be replaced. Vernon brought a breach-ofwarranty lawsuit against Jerry Schuster on the basis that he had continued the sole proprietorship that his father had started and therefore Jerry Schuster should honor the warranty given by James Schuster. Jerry Schuster maintained that he had no responsibility to honor a warranty provided by a predecessor business.

The trial court dismissed most of the lawsuit, holding that Jerry Schuster could not be held liable for the obligations of his father’s sole proprietorship interest.

CASE QUESTIONS 1. Who prevails and why? Name a case from this chapter that supports your answer.

2. If Jerry Schuster changed the name of the business but still used the tools he inherited, how would that impact your analysis?

3. As an ethical matter, should a son honor the commitments of his father in these circumstances?