Posted on 07/28/2007 5:14:29 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
When Mark Lanier, a liability lawyer in Houston, took the case of a 6-year-old girl who choked to death on a toy, he tried suing everybody in the supply chain: the fast-food restaurant that sold the toy in a children's meal, the American importer and the toy's Chinese manufacturer.
The restaurant chain, Whataburger, and the importer settled for an undisclosed amount, but Lanier said he could not even find the proper entity in China to serve with a lawsuit.
With Chinese imports triggering a flurry of product-safety violations in recent months, American consumers have grown increasingly anxious about how and whom to sue, according to lawyers that handle such cases. As Lanier and other have found, the difficulties can be enormous.
While suing companies in foreign countries is always more difficult than pursing a domestic lawsuit, the complexities of filing a case against a Chinese firm are compounded by the country's regulatory and legal systems and by political relations between Washington and Beijing.
"You're spitting in the wind," Lanier said of attempting to sue Chinese companies in U.S. courts. Lanier said his firm has seen a 500 percent increase in the number of inquiries over Chinese goods, but he will rarely take a case unless there is an American defendant as well......
The opacity and scarcity of regulation of Chinese business practices make investigations and evidence-gathering cumbersome and frustrating. Headquarters offices, once found, are often bare-bones operations. Records may be spotty or nonexistent. Unaffected by court orders, the level of cooperation is low. Sometimes the Chinese company will not show up to a U.S. court......
The most cost-effective way to hold a Chinese manufacturer responsible, said Cohen, may not be through the courts. "Publicity may be the best weapon for anyone who can't afford litigation," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hey, ya get what ya pay for.
Imagine how much less expensive (and available) American-made products would be if liability lawyers got this kind of response from U.S. courts and bureaucracies.
I know. In my dreams...
The Chinese hoodwinked us out of the Panama Canal, bought an American president and got state-of-the-art computer and missile technology in the bargain, but if anything is to be their undoing, greedy, ambulance-chasing American lawyers will make them sorry they ever heard of America! /humor
Big reason american companies are moving to asia.. even if it is cheaper to produce here in america and ship short distances. You can have a great business like 50 million in sales.. and have a hard earned 2 million a year profit..
Then a product was faulty, an oversight, or maybe some idiot used it the wrong way. Then a big jackpot lawsuit comes and wipes out 5 years of profit. Its just too risky. And I’ve been a stock trader years ago, markets hate risk.
On the other hand you can incorporate in a foreign country, contract out to oem’s through numbered companies shell companies. You move any profit out of the accounts often. Then drop off the product at the ports to an american company. If you get sued and lose, you only lose a small money in the accounts.. then shut down that company and open up new shell companies, and import again through the oem’s.
What it is basically is a very complex way of giving customers an option, you can buy this product which is cheaper but you forego the right to sue in the future. So use the product at your own risk.
it occurs to me that this is no worse than ANYTHING a kid can choke on......which is a matter of size, not whether or not it is a toy.....that kids put things into their mouths and occasionally choke on them is a fact and hazard of life. This is like trying to sue a scissors manufacturer because a kid tripped while running with them.
If you take a look at the ties of the Bush family to the ChiComs, it would be more accurate to state that the Chinese have bought at least 3 American presidents (Bush '41, Slick Willie, and Bush '43).
Don't forget that before 9/11, Bush '43 was grabbing his ankles in 2001 when the ChiComs held a U.S. flight crew hostage and kept the plane.
“Patriotic thing??” I don’t think that has anything to do with it. All they are interested in is filling their pockets with money and since they undoubtedly didn’t get enough from everyone one who had touched or thought about putting one of the toys in the meal package they of course want to go where the pockets would be much deeper. Product ambulance chasers is what the folks are.
“kept the plane.”
Nice try. Get your facts right. They DID NOT KEEP THE PLANE. Internet searches are a great thing before posting.
The plane was released back to the U.S. It was disassembled but was released back to us.
Trial lawyers only sue Americans because trial lawyers want easy money *and* the Death of America.
Thus, ChiComs are exempt from the wrath of Trial Lawyers.
You’re *way* out of line.
Did you forget Carter?
What was out of line?
He didn’t have his facts right so he started name-calling.
“...but another when you use the product as intended and it injures or kills a child”
And what kind of toys small enough to choke a kid are intended for kids to put into their mouths? Oh. I forgot. You also said:
“I will say that it’s one thing to misuse a product and an accident occurs,....”
They did steal technology didn’t they?
The “bushbot” reference was weak but not a deletable problem.
The tech was destroyed before the aircraft landed. Strike one.
The aircraft was returned. Strike two.
Then the kid starts name-calling rather than admit that he was wrong on points one and two.
...needs a time-out.
I thought that they did not destroy all of the tech.
I could be wrong as it has been a while.
Note, I don’t give a damn about peyton randolph or his posts.
Yes. A time-out is a good way for you to avoid those pesky facts. Way out of line to suggest the ChiComs looted the technology? I don't think so.
"U.S. diplomats report that 24 crew members of the downed U.S. spy plane are uninjured and healthy. But along with it, bad news: they're still being detained as China continues to rebuff President Bush's repeated and more insistent demands to release them, and to release their damaged aircraft, which the Pentagon admits has by now been searched and probably stripped of top secret equipment." - April 3, 2001
Perhaps you can whine to the moderator and have this comment removed too. Better yet, asked that I be banned.
Nope. Carter was weak on foreign policy with everyone...part of the blame-America-first crowd.
In contrast, Slick Willie sold tech to the ChiComs for campaign contributions...and Bush '41 and '43 handled the ChiComs with kid gloves because of long-standing ties.
The proper party to sue is the company that brought the goods into the U.S., the importer of record (and no, not the import agent acting as your importer).
You bring in products, you better make sure they are good, safe products.
China will deal with the problem effectively if it is viewed to be impacting their export business. Until then, it is not China's responsibility to adhere to U.S. liability climate.
My gosh, I hope the day never comes that we export this kind of liability law mess to China. It is not something you should wish on anyone.
Oh please, they were not held hostage. China was investigating the accident that everyone in China knew as the Chinese pilots fault.
As they put it, my nose (the slower U.S. spy plane) does not hit your fist (the Chinese jet).
China had a couple of weeks to interview the crew and after that they would never have a chance to talk to them again to gather information.
All the hysteria and overreaaction in the U.S. over this incident was a running joke at every pub in China at the time.
First, you are off topic. Look at the title for the thread. Second, you have a bad attitude (e.g. not admitting that you’re wrong) and a bad tone to boot.
Third, the plane *was* disassembled and what was left of the top secret technology (it was destroyed prior to landing) was examined by the ChiComs (you too can look at ashes).
Fourth, the plane *was* returned. More importantly, so were its American occupants.
On all of the above you are in err to the contrary. Now you’re spouting off at me.
Look up above. You were spouting at another poster when I told you that you were way out of line.
Well, here you are...arguing even with the person who gave you reason for pause, who *wasn’t* part of your initial tirade.
So yes, you need a time out just like any spoiled child. You need to calm down and re-evaluate just why it is that you are so argumentative, even when clear facts are against you.
It’s a psychosis to keep claiming that you are right even when you’ve been incontravertibly proven wrong, by the way.
Not that I expect it from you, but if you heed the warning in my words you’ll correct a personal problem that will head off decades of social ills.
We are on the same page in general idea. I do think that anything patriotic that they are doing is just a byproduct of filling their pockets.
Exactly!
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