Question

A woman from British Columbia, Saliha Alnoor, recently sued Colgate-Palmolive, alleging that she was injured by a defective toothbrush. She stated that the toothbrush snapped as she was brushing her teeth, which injured her gums and caused them to bleed profusely. Alnoor claimed that she had endured permanent injury and sought damages, including $94 000 in anticipated treatments. Colgate denied any wrongdoing. Soon after the trial began, the judge made several rulings against Alnoor, who was self-represented. Alnoor later agreed to drop her claim in response to Colgate’s offer to waive legal costs against her (estimated at about $30 000) if she did so. According to the National Post, Alnoor's brother stated as follows: “We spent $21 000 on lawyers and experts, but we have no regrets. Now we know how justice works. Now we are much wiser.” Do you agree with Colgate’s approach to Alnoor’s litigation? What are the risks Colgate faced from the litigation? What are Alnoor’s risks?

Answer 1

In my opinion, the decision of the company to offer the waiver for the legal fee incurred  in the case for the Plaintiff Alnoor is the correct one if she decides to close the case. This is due to the fact that the company was in a better position than the plaintiff as many rulings was made against her by the judge. The company wanted to settle the case ou of the court and i could have backfired to the company and then the company might end up paying huge money for the unfair legal practices if it is found that it is involved in settling the case through wrongful manner.

The main consequences for the company would be the loss of reputation, momentary losses as the company might have to pay compensation to the plaintiff, negative publicity and wastage of time to proceed the case

In case of plaintiff, the main consequences could be loss of money to be paid in the form of fine due to misrepresentation of facts, money to be paid to the lawyer and risk of being punished for wasting the time of the court

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