Girl feet on the hover board. Self-balancing scooter or mini segwayOn December 26, Marty and Dave McFly were playing video games when, downstairs in the living room, the hoverboard that Marty had received for Christmas ignited. The fire quickly engulfed the Christmas tree and spread throughout the house. Marty and Dave escaped with minor injuries, but their house was destroyed. Since the McFlys had bought the hoverboard from Amazon.com, they sued the company, alleging that it sold them a defective product and failed to warn them that it was unsafe. Amazon, however, argues that it is not responsible because it did not manufacture or even sell the hoverboard. Instead, it merely set up a marketplace by which a third-party Chinese manufacturer sold the hoverboard. Is the McFlys’ lawsuit up in smoke?
Continue Reading Amazon Packages Bursting into Open Fires, Jack Frost Nipping at Your Nose…

Nifty Counsel, Dunce’s Caps in-house lawyer, came up with what he thought was a brilliant way to minimize the company’s liability to its customers.  Nifty added arbitration provisions to Dunce’s customer purchase order agreements, and included language that the customer agreed the arbitrator could not award the customer damages exceeding the price of the order.  Flat Backs, a major retail hat company, filed an arbitration action against Dunce’s after Dunce’s failed to deliver 100,000 Auburn Tigers 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions hats.[1]  The demand for arbitration alleged $4 million in damages, even though the purchase order price was only $500,000.  Terry B.L. Judge, the arbitrator, ignored Dunce’s arguments that the purchase order’s arbitration clause prohibited Judge from awarding Flat Backs more than $500,000, and awarded Flat Backs the requested $4 million.  Dunce’s then asked a court to overturn the arbitration award for the same reason – Judge exceeded his jurisdictional limits.    
Continue Reading The Case of Mistaken Indemnity

busStephen F. Austin is the CEO of Alamo Lines, a bus line servicing Central Texas. One night, a young, promising driver, David Boone, confessed to Stephen that he was suffering from severe depression and suicidal thoughts. Boone did not mention that his depression was due to the breakup of his romantic relationship with co-worker, Samantha

Business conceptDebbett Runnup Partnership, a Texas general partnership, was sued by Widgets R Us in 2010 for failing to pay Widgets R Us invoices. Judgment was granted to Widgets in 2012 against Debbett Runnup for $300,000. After chasing Debbett for over three years, Widgets’ lawyer Plinn T. Agreshun realizes that Debbett is penniless. Knowing that partners

The middle of the holiday season means more than just busy shopping malls.  It is also the time when many people host holiday parties.  After attending Mora Rounds’ holiday party and consuming several adult beverages, Bitu Tipsy agreed to drive her friend Shannon home.  Shannon did not know Bitu had been drinking.  Unfortunately, Bitu crashed

On a brisk January day, Mary A. Richman opened her mailbox and was confronted with the sobering sight of thick envelopes from Visa, American Express and MasterCard each containing a month’s worth of extravagant Christmas purchases.  Although she expected the bills to be large, she didn’t expect them to be this large.  When she carefully reviewed the charges, the weather wasn’t the only thing giving Richman the chills. She quickly noticed entries for businesses with which she was unfamiliar, including a $1,200 Visa charge on December 25th for a bar in Chihuahua, Mexico called Tequila Mockingbird.  Richman lost her Visa card on December 21st, but never reported it.  Is Richman liable for the unauthorized charges?


Continue Reading Lost or Stolen: Liability for Unauthorized Credit Card Charges