Product Liability DISCUSSION AND REPLY TO EDWARD AND KAREN

 PLEASE DO DISCUSSION BELOW AND REPLY TO EDWARD AND KAREN:

DISCUSSION:

After viewing the Chinese Imports & Food Safety (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. video,  consider whether U.S. retailers that utilize products or raw  ingredients that are imported from China and are poorly regulated should  be liable in tort for injuries to consumers who are harmed by those  products. Answer parts a and b of the prompt.

1. For this part of the prompt, answer one of the following points:  
   • If U.S. companies should not be liable, then they could be legally  exempt from tort liability. Discuss the consequences of such a policy to  U.S. consumers.
   • If the U.S. companies should be liable, then those companies would  not be legally exempt from tort liability. Discuss the consequences of  such a policy to U.S. businesses.
2. Regardless of your response to part a, assume that U.S. retailers do  have legal liability for defective products. What steps could U.S.  retailers and manufacturers take when using products imported from China  that would minimize their liability exposure? For example, they could  warn consumers about the potential, though speculative, dangers when  using products comprised of poorly regulated ingredients or components.  Given your strategy, what challenges would exist for U.S. businesses  that implemented your strategy?

Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your  fellow students’ posts in a substantive manner. Some ways to do this  include the following, though you may choose a different approach,  providing your response is substantive:

Discuss the challenges that would exist if your employer (or a fictitious employer) were to adopt your classmate’s strategy.

REPLY TO KAREN:

 

US companies that tend to buy goods from China should be very much  liable for the damages that are incurred to the customers as they are  mostly concerned about profit. China as per the video shared to us in  the discussion “doesn’t have a real regulatory regime or history of  regulatory regimes that include inspection, monitoring, and enforcement  of laws” (“Chinese Imports & Food Safety”, 2012).The American  companies are pretty much aware of the fact and when they decide not to  do anything then it should be liable to face the consequences. There  should be a tort policy that would result in making the American company  liable for the bad products which they purchase in wholesale from China  and make profit. The fact that people should  able to differentiate  between China products that the American companies are stating their own  from the actual products. The US can put more FDA regulations that will  help to reduce the liability of the companies and be transparent to the  consumers. When the retailers hide the details then they become even  mre liable for the damages that they cause but putting a mark or label  that tends to differentiate between these products will help them to  reduce the Liability. Comparative negligence is a scope which American  companies have if they become transparent

References

(2012, Oct. 19). Chinese imports & food safety - PBS  news hour (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. -  YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BKe70AAU_lc (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

https://youtu.be/BKe70AAU_lc

REPLY TO EDWARD:

 

United  States companies that purchase products from China should be liable for  damages to consumers because they are delivering it to them and making a  profit. China “doesn’t have a real regulatory regime or history of  regulatory regimes that include inspection, monitoring, and enforcement  of laws” (“Chinese Imports & Food Safety”, 2012). American companies  know that and still sell the products to citizens within their country  because they purchase products in bulk for a cheaper price, which in  return allows them to make more money. By creating a tort liability  policy that would hold American companies accountable for bad food  products purchased from China which resulted in American citizens  getting sick and dying, U.S. retailors would lose money. Not to mention  that putting made in china labels on food products stocked on American  grocery shelves would defer citizens to look for alternative even if the  foreign products were cheaper.

The U.S. can minimize their liability exposure by simply by not  having a greed for money, which can be done putting china labels on food  products that came from them, listing all ingredients, and have more  FDA inspections on products coming into our nation. “Pure comparative  negligence jurisdictions allow plaintiffs to recover no matter what  their percentage of negligence, whereas modified comparative negligence  jurisdictions allow plaintiffs to recover only if they are less than50%  negligent themselves” (Seaquist, 2012, p. 8.2). If American retail  companies are willing to take a nosedive in sales by putting labels on  the foods in which country they came from, plaintiffs who try to sue  will be more than 50 percent negligent, because they purchased the  product knowing all the details. If retailers try to hide vital  information they will constantly be found liable through pure  comparative negligence which will allow them to lose liability cases  very easy.

References

(2012, Oct. 19). Chinese imports & food safety - PBS  news hour (Links to an external site.) Links to an external site. -  YouTube. (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BKe70AAU_lc (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.