Question

Mr. Brown hired Lowe's Maintenance Services Limited to repair and paint the exterior wall of his office. The parties signed a contract under which Mr. Brown would select the materials to be used on the project. Lowe's Maintenance Services Limited was also the manufacturer of ABC paints and encouraged Mr. Brown to purchase their paint, based on what they indicated was its suitability, for use on the project. Mr. Brown purchased ABC paint, which was used but turned out to be inappropriate for that particular application. Identify and describe the contracts involved in this incident.

Answer 1

As the choice is finally made by Mr. Brown, he cannot terminate the contract with Lowe’s Maintenance Service Ltd. However, Mr. Brown can sue the Lowe’s Maintenance Services company for the breach of product liability clause.

Product liability is the mechanism which puts the onus and total responsibility of a defective product bought by a consumer, on the manufacturer or the seller of the product. The basic expectations of the consumer must be met by the product of the manufacturer or seller. Due to this mechanism, the seller or the manufacturer of the product will be held liable for any kind of injury or accident caused by the product, to the consumer.

Three major types of product liability are:

• Breach of warranty: Usually a product is sold with a warranty by the seller or the manufacturer that the product will function well for a stipulated time period. If the product fails to do the same, then it is considered to be a breach of warranty.
• Negligence: If the product is not meeting the standard performance expectations of the consumers due to some negligence caused during its manufacturing, then the manufacturer or seller of the product can be sued by the consumer under the tort of negligence.
• Strict liability: In the case of any kind of product performance failure, the consumer can raise a strict liability tort. All the stakeholders involved in the production of the product, will be held responsible and can be sued.

Mr. Brown has full rights to sue the Lowe’s Maintenance Services company for breach of warranty as well as strict liability as the product had turned out to be defective and flawed.