Product Liability This week's question concerns liability and moral responsibility in consumer products. As the question is multi-part, the answer will be likewise. To begin, the first question addresses who should be liable for the voluntary actions of others. Specifically, if substantial information concerning the hazards of a product or service has been offered to the consumer, who is to blame if someone is injured? Similar to most questions derived from this course, the answer is "it depends." From a legal standpoint, the contract or arrangement must first be analyzed. If, for example, the activity is a high risk activity such as sky diving or feeding sharks on a scuba dive, then the legal concept of "duty of care" obviously plays a major role. Without sufficient training, education, and discussion of the inherent risks, potential problems, and possible results of mishaps, the seller is not fulfilling his or her duty warn the buyer of known risks or hazards. In this case, the seller would be legally required to warn the buyer that a failure to exercise reasonable care poses an unreasonable risk of harm (McCarty, 279). If the buyer has been properly apprised of the level of care necessary to avoid unreasonable risk, the buyer then assumes the risk, and subsequent liability, should tragedy occur. This is due to the "Assumption of Risk" liability defense that states that if the plaintiff knew, or should have known, of the risk inherent in a particular situation and voluntarily assumes that risk, then the defendant is not liable for the plaintiff's injury even if the defendant was negligent. In this case, if the sky diving company requires 4 hours of classroom training before the first jump to thoroughly cover the risks ... ... middle of paper ... ...lly putting the consumer in the presence of a known hazard. The ethics of virtue would also caution against issuing an unsafe product. Dishonesty, malice, and greed, generally acknowledged as vices, lend to less admirable behaviors such as withholding safety information, placing innocent consumers in harm's path, and taking shortcuts on quality or safety. The character of a manager who allows this behavior is damaged. Therefore, issuing a defective product to consumers would violate the ethics of virtue. Finally, the rights of the consumers are violated when a manufacturer sells an unsafe product. Specifically, the freedom of choice is revoked, as the buyer is not freely choosing to accept the product. Without full disclosure, the buyer cannot make an informed decision, and subsequently is not freely choosing to engage in the agreement to purchase the product.
In response to many theories of liability to tort, it is important to understand two major defences to negligence, contributory negligence and assumption of risk, when handling cases. This is beneficial for defendant to reduce liability when the plaintiff has succeeded to establish the three elements of negligence. In relation to hospitality industry, defences to negligence were frequently used to protect and reduce liability of the hospitality establishment. Even till today, although defences are developing and ever changing, the underlying principles however are substantially the same.
First let us define negligence. “Negligence occurs when someone suffers injury because of another’s failure to live up to a required duty of care. The risk must be foreseeable, it must be such that a reasonable person performing the same activity would anticipate the risk (Miller, 2013).” For Myra’s claim of negligence to be proved her team must prove duty, breach, causation, and damages. Our defense will be based on Myra’s assumption of risk as a judge, contributory negligence, and comparative negligence.
When you or your loved one walks into a business or is invited onto private property , you expect to be walking into a safe environment. Business are responsible for taking certain measures to ensure the safety of you and your loved one. If you become injured because of a property owner 's failure to keep their property free from hazards, hidden or known, you may have a legal claim against the property owner. This is a premise liability case. Below are some frequently asked questions and answers regarding premise liability claims.
Various arguments can be brought upon the fact that people should be more ethical in their purchases but at the same time reactions can support...
By law, product manufacturers are responsible to give a reasonable warning when the product they manufacture poses a foreseeable risk of injury or harm. Courts use the following factors to consider a manufacturer's duty to warn: "the magnitude or severity of the likely harm, the ...
Negligence can be defined as any conduct that is ‘careless or unintentional in nature and entails a breach of any contractual duty or duty of care in tort owed to another person or persons’.(Godsell, 1993 P23)
In an ideal world, consumers and companies would equally share the burdens of product liability and consumer responsibility. However, in the real world, we must make tradeoffs between these two. How we do this will not only affect our legal environment, but our economic and social environments as well.
Negligence, as defined in Pearson’s Business Law in Canada, is an unintentional careless act or omission that causes injury to another. Negligence consists of four parts, of which the plaintiff has to prove to be able to have a successful lawsuit and potentially obtain compensation. First there is a duty of care: Who is one responsible for? Secondly there is breach of standard of care: What did the defendant do that was careless? Thirdly there is causation: Did the alleged careless act actually cause the harm? Fourthly there is damage: Did the plaintiff suffer a compensable type of harm as a result of the alleged negligent act? Therefore, the cause of action for Helen Happy’s lawsuit will be negligence, and she will be suing the warden of the Peace River Correctional Centre, attributable to vicarious liability. As well as, there will be a partial defense (shared blame) between the warden and the two employees, Ike Inkster and Melvin Melrose; whom where driving the standard Correction’s van.
Review the scenario below. Consider the legal principles influencing the likelihood of any successful action against Steve in negligence.
Cross, Frank B., and Roger LeRoy Miller. "Ch. 13: Strict Liability and Product Liability." The legal environment of business: text and cases, 8th edition. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning Custom Solutions, 2012. 294-297. Print.
Negligence is a concept that was passed from Great Britain to the United States. It arose out of common law, which is made up of court decisions that considered whether a defendant had an obligation to act with greater care. It is conduct which falls below the standard established by law for the protection of others against unreasonable risk of harm and involves a failure to fulfill a duty that causes injury to another. Many torts depend on whether there was intent but negligence does not. Negligence looks to see whether the person had a duty to act with care. It emphasizes the need for people to act reasonably in society. This is important because accidents will happen. Negligence helps the law establish whether these accidents could have been avoided, if there was a breach of duty to act reasonably, and if that breach was the cause of injury to that person. By focusing on the conduct rather than the intent of the defendant, the tort of negligence reflects society’s desire to
There is a strict distinction between acts and omissions in tort of negligence. “A person is often not bound to take positive action unless they have agreed to do so, and have been paid for doing so.” (Cane.2009; 73) The rule is a settled one and allows some exceptions only in extreme circumstances. The core idea can be summarized in “why pick on me” argument. This attitude was spectacularly demonstrated in a notoriously known psychological experiment “The Bystander effect” (Latané & Darley. 1968; 377-383). Through practical scenarios, psychologists have found that bystanders are more reluctant to intervene in emergency situations as the size of the group increases. Such acts of omission are hardly justifiable in moral sense, but find some legal support. “A man is entitled to be as negligent as he pleases towards the whole world if he owes no duty to them.” (L Esher Lievre v Gould [1893] 1 Q.B. 497) Definitely, when there is no sufficient proximity between the parties, a legal duty to take care cannot be lawfully exonerated and imposed, as illustrated in Palmer v Tees Health Authority [1999] All ER (D) 722). If it could, individuals would have been in the permanent state of over- responsibility for others, neglecting their own needs. Policy considerations in omission cases are not inspired by the parable of Good Samaritan ideas. Judges do favour individualism as it “permits the avoidance of vulnerability and requires self-sufficiency. “ (Hoffmaster.2006; 36)
Marketing is a system of business activates designed to plan, price, promote and distribute want-satisfying products, services and ideas to customers in order to achieve business objectives. Consumer law protects consumer’s rights in the marketplace as well as fair trading, competition and accurate information. On the other hand, ethical aspects of marketing are about making marketing decisions that are morally right. However, consumer law and ethical aspects of marketing have a lot of advantages and disadvantages in the marketplace, which impacts business 's sales and growth like it happened to: Harvey Norman, Nurofen, apple, etc.
Noel, Dix. “Defective Products: Abnormal Use, Contributory Negligence and Assumption of Risk” Vanderbilt Law Review. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2002. 313-23. Print.
- Unsafe products can be banned ( product faulty and can not be sold again) or recalled (all stock taken back repaired and then put on the shelves)