Webster is a well-known example of a court protecting local customs and traditions.When a patron in a Boston restaurant chokes on a fish bone that is in a bowl of chowder, the court concludes there was no liability issue because the good(s) were "merchantable;" i.e., the chowder was not different from "the ordinary purpose for which goods are used."It was neither the best chowder, nor the worst, but it was of like kind.As the court observed, "the joys of life in New England include the ready availability of fresh fish chowder.We should be prepared to cope with the hazards of fish bones, the occasional presence of which in chowder is, it seems to us, to be anticipated, and which, in the light of a hallowed tradition, do not impair their fitness or merchantability."

Question: Do you agree?Should one expect to dine on the occasional shrimp shell along the Gulf Coast or share a swig of beer with the occasional crab shell in a Baltimore crab cake?