Judge Lorna Schofield
Under their 2012 agreement Beautiful Home (BH) warranted that goods delivered to Burlington were free from defects and conformed to order specifications. Burlington's multiple purchase orders for 73,503 units detailed the thread count and cotton fiber content of sheets from Beautiful Home. In December 2012 BH delivered 40,499 units. A unit tested by Intertek Group showed the thread count and fiber content not as indicated by BH. Two other samples tested after Burlington cancelled its remaining orders showed thread count and fiber content not as stated by Beautiful Home. In Beautiful Home's contract breach suit, the court denied dismissal of Burlington's contract breach and breach of warranty counterclaims, rejecting Beautiful Home's assertion that only a statistically valid random sample—not three of more than 40,000 units—could be a plausible basis for a belief that BH's delivery was nonconforming under the parties' contract. Burlington's contract breach counterclaim was plausibly based on the facts alleged. Whatever sampling was adequate or necessary was an issue for later stages of litigation, and possibly the subject of expert testimony.
