Question

IBM 120 Winter 2020- products and service development for global market

Question 1 – A low-cost furniture company relies on its customers to assemble their products. Give some examples in which the company is not fulfilling the “Duty of Care” liability and Negligence. Explain the differences.

425-450 word answer

Answer 1

First of all, the term "duty of care" refers to a legal obligation which is imposed on an individual requiring adherence to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others. It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence. The claimant must be able to show a duty of care imposed by law which the defendant has breached. In turn, breaching a duty may subject an individual to liability. The duty of care may be imposed by operation of law between individuals who have no current direct relationship (familial or contractual or otherwise) but eventually become related in some manner, as defined by common law (meaning case law).Although the duty of care is easiest to understand in contexts like simple blunt trauma, it is important to understand that the duty can be still found in situations where plaintiffs and defendants may be separated by vast distances of space and time.

Duty of care may be considered a formalisation of the social contract, the implicit responsibilities held by individuals towards others within society. It is not a requirement that a duty of care be defined by law, though it will often develop through the jurisprudence of common law.

For the above stated case, low- cpst furniture company have to check and care for the raw material included in making furniture. on the other part of the question, the difference between them are as follows:

• Liability is a responsibility whereas negligence is a lack of responsibility.
• Liability can be defined as "a cause that leads to negative results" Negligence means "an injury or accident caused by someone for not doing something in a proper way".
• Negligence is also called " the careless conduct that could create liability".

In a company of low cost furniture, the company's responsibilities regarding the furniture as a host of allegations in some following cases:

• Design defect—where plaintiff alleges the furniture design is inherently defective.
• Manufacturing defect—when a flaw in the manufacturing process renders furniture defective.
• Failure to warn or instruct—finding defect due to inadequate instructions or warnings.
• Misrepresentation—when a party supplies false information for others to rely on.
• Negligent assembly—for example if a retailer failed to exercise proper care in assembling a piece of furniture.
• Premises liability—when a retailer knows of or could reasonably discover a dangerous condition, such as a slippery step, and fails to protect its customer from the danger.

In addition to establishing the basic elements of each allegation, the plaintiff must also prove causation, i.e. that the defective condition of the furniture or inadequate warning caused the accident or injury. The specific requirements to prove causation vary by state. For example, in Minnesota, a “direct cause” is a cause that had a substantial part in bringing about the accident or injury. In California, courts focus on whether the defect in the product was a substantial factor in producing the injury to determine a defendant’s liability.

These cases raised a multitude of typical issues encountered in personal injury litigation, such as:

• Daubert challenges—claims that a party’s expert opinions are not admissible in court.
• Spoliation claims—claims that the product was not properly preserved after the accident or injury.
• Statute of limitations—claims that the lawsuit is barred because it was not filed within the time limits proscribed by law based on when the claim accrued.
• Statutes of repose—claims that the lawsuit is barred because it was not filed within the time limits proscribed by law based on when the product was designed or manufactured.

  

THESE IMAGES SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OR ELEMENTS OF DUTY OF CARE GLOBALLY.