[TowerTalk] Action against US Tower?

Bill w7vp at comcast.net
Wed Jun 7 01:49:52 EDT 2006


I guess that is because I am an engineer too, Jim :-)

73
Bill
W7VP
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Lux" <jimlux at earthlink.net>
To: "Bill" <w7vp at comcast.net>; <wc1m at msn.com>; "'JC Smith'" 
<jc-smith at comcast.net>; "'Rick Tavan N6XI'" <rtavan at gmail.com>; 
<towertalk at contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2006 9:13 PM
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Action against US Tower?


> At 02:32 PM 6/6/2006, Bill wrote:
> <snip of excellent non-legal description of "merchantability etc." 
> suitable
> for us engineers>
>
>
>>  I had a case in Montana once where a piece of strapping cable was being
>> used as an elevator rope.  When it broke we were sued along with the
>> store owner on the claim that the cable was defective because we had not
>> warned the store owner not to use it as an elevator rope.  The store
>> owner paid and we received a verdict of not liable from the jury for a
>> variety of very good reasons.
>
>
> Of course, it's just as likely in this situation that the parties 
> concerned
> could mutually agree that it would be more expensive to go to trial (even
> though you'd prevail, but perhaps there's no provision for costs and fees)
> than just to settle.  Such is life in the business world.  More than once 
> I
> was involved in a business dispute with threats of litigation and everyone
> settles and walks away moderately happy, without ever actually deciding 
> who
> was right and who was wrong. In my former job in the entertainment 
> industry
> (an industry noted for moral elasticity), lawsuits and threats of same are
> just another negotiating tool to get the price lowered.. another flavor of
> "you'll never work in this town again".  Nobody ever expects to actually 
> go
> to court, and you're paying the attorneys with OPM (other people's 
> money...
> e.g. from the investors in the production).
>
> Leaving this delightful, but glamorous, environment behind was a distinct
> motivation in taking my current job at JPL, where all we worry about is
> things like the relative positions of Mars and the Earth.
>
>
>
>>So the bottom line is that failure to provide detailed instructions may
>>avoid a claim of violation of a warranty but it does not avoid the claim
>>that the product was defective for failure to tell the user how to use it
>>properly or, more importantly, how not to use it improperly.
>
>
> Jim
>
>
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