1 / 13

Warranties and Product Liability

Warranties and Product Liability. OBE 118, Section 3, Fall 2004 Professor McKinsey. Warranties. A contractual theory of responsibility for sellers for how a good performs. Often the UCC is involved. Two Categories of warranties:. 3 ways to create:. 3 types:. Statement of fact.

judith
Download Presentation

Warranties and Product Liability

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Warranties and Product Liability OBE 118, Section 3, Fall 2004 Professor McKinsey

  2. Warranties • A contractual theory of responsibility for sellers for how a good performs • Often the UCC is involved • Two Categories of warranties: 3 ways to create: 3 types: Statement of fact Description of goods Samples or models

  3. Express Warranties • Opinions and Puffing are not warranty • Statement of fact that a product will meet a standard or do a specific thing. Examples (yes or no?) This blade will last for over 100 hours Will kill any weed you spray it on I think this car is the best I think this car will last another 100,000 miles without any major maintenance This is the best product on the market

  4. Implied Warranties • Title Warranties – with nearly all sales of goods • Implied Warranty of Merchantability – only possible when merchant seller • Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose – certain circumstances

  5. Implied Title Warranties Three types: • Good Title – sellers owns the goods • No Liens – good is free of claims by others • No Infringements – good is free from Intellectual Property(IP) claims

  6. Implied Warranty of Merchantability • When a merchant sells a good, it is warranted to be fit for use in general purpose “ ” • Goods must be reasonably fit for the ordinary purposes for which such goods are used, meet label expectations and be safe • Victim must have harm caused by the breach of warranty

  7. Implied Warranty of Fitness for a Particular Purpose Arises when any seller recommends goods to the buyer for a particular purpose: 1) Seller aware of particular use 2) Buyer relies on seller’s knowledge or skill 3) Seller aware of buyer’s reliance 4) Seller recommends goods for particular use

  8. Handling Warranties A warranty creates terms in the contract Warranty failure is a potential breach of contract The act of ensuring no warranties is called “disclaiming” Warranty disclaimers often have to meet requirements to be effective

  9. Disclaiming Warranties • Merchantability Conspicuous disclaimer with “ ” in it • Fitness for a Particular Purpose Use the words: “” and “”

  10. Product Liability • Contractual theory- using warranties (express and implied) within a contract • Negligence theory- was product negligently made or sold? • Strict liability theory – does product fall under the strict liability doctrine

  11. Product Liability using Negligence • To prove negligence the part must show a breach of the duty of care. • Proximate cause may limit the number of people in the chain of commerce that can be held liable • Key part is finding a “smoking gun” or other evidence showing fault.

  12. PL based on Strict Liability 1. D sold product in defective condition 2. D normally in business of selling product 3. Product unreasonably dangerous* 4. P suffers physical harm through use of product 5. Defective condition is proximate cause 6. No substantial changes to product since sold

  13. PL using Strict Liability Theory • Advantages: lots of possible parties to sue, no need to show fault • Disadvantages: has to meet one of three types of “defective products”

More Related