The Kitchen Co Pty Ltd Case Study on Liability and Consumer Law
The Kitchen Co Pty Ltd Case Study on Liability and Consumer Law.Essay topic: Kitchen Co Pty Ltd (“Kitchen Co”) manufactures and supplies to the public (through its subsidiary Kitchen Co-Sales Pty Ltd) the “Kitchenwiz”, an expensive, high-speed kitchen blender costing $2000, which is advertised and sold to the public as a high-quality market leader. Unfortunately, the Kitchenwiz has an intermittent design fault which creates the possibility of the mixing bowl lid detaching during use, with the risk that users may be sprayed with hot food or liquids from the bowl. Billie had purchased a Kitchenwiz in February 2018, and was seriously injured in May 2018 when the lid on the bowl of their Kitchenwiz did detach and they were severely burnt by boiling hot soup. Their injuries were so serious that they required hospitalisation for two days and extensive medical treatment. Billie’s partner Ronnie was also injured by the liquid spraying out of the Kitchenwiz, but only required treatment in their GP’s surgery. Kitchen Co had become aware of the design flaw in the Kitchenwiz in early January 2018, when the company received a number of complaints from users who had suffered injuries due to the malfunctioning of their Kitchenwiz. The senior managers of Kitchen Co were slow to react, but decided in late January 2018 to continue marketing the Kitchenwiz (which was among their best sellers, generating some $10 million in sales between January and June 2018, with a net profit of $3.5 million) while the company tried to find a solution to the defect. When Kitchen Co-was unable to find a solution to the problem, management decided to withdraw the product from the market in June 2018 and issued a safety warning to consumers, alerting them to the design flaw and resultant risks. Between January and June 2018, several other users also suffered injuries of varying degrees when their Kitchenwiz malfunctioned. Question: Advise Billie on the legal and ethical issues arising from the above facts. In relation to legal issues, limit your analysis to issues of product liability, and do not explore the possible implications of ss 18, 29 – 33 and related provisions of the Australian Consumer Law. You must support your arguments and conclusions on all aspects of your answer by reference to/analysis of relevant legislative sections, case-law, journal articles or other appropriate sources.
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