UCC § 2-315
Implied Warranty: Fitness for Particular Purpose
Where the seller at the time of contracting has reason to know any particular purpose for which the goods are required and that the buyer is relying on the seller’s skill or judgment to select or furnish suitable goods, there is unless excluded or modified under the next section an implied warranty that the goods shall be fit for such purpose.
Professor's notes
Three elements: (1) the seller has reason to know the buyer's particular purpose; (2) the seller has reason to know the buyer is relying on the seller's skill or judgment to select suitable goods; (3) the buyer in fact so relies. No merchant requirement. Any seller who meets the three elements gives the warranty.
Common misunderstanding: students conflate § 2-315 with § 2-314. Merchantability asks whether the goods are fit for ordinary purposes; fitness asks whether they are fit for this buyer's specified purpose. A perfectly merchantable winter tire breaches § 2-315 if sold to a buyer who told the seller he needed it for racing.
The reliance element is the workhorse. A buyer who picks the goods himself by brand or spec is not relying on the seller's judgment. The warranty's home is the consumer-walks-in-and-asks-the-clerk-for-a-recommendation transaction.
Text
UCC § 2-315. Implied Warranty: Fitness for Particular Purpose.
Where the seller at the time of contracting has reason to know any particular purpose for which the goods are required and that the buyer is relying on the seller’s skill or judgment to select or furnish suitable goods, there is unless excluded or modified under the next section an implied warranty that the goods shall be fit for such purpose.
Source: UCC Article 2 (post-2022 amendments), as in the LawJ statutory corpus.