framers Digest, Vol 77, Issue 18
Keith Smyth
keith.smyth at att.net
Thu Mar 22 16:43:59 PDT 2012
Fred Ridder, Richard Combs, I was given this info last year by a corporate
shark. Glad you guys are so up on the law. I have a tendency to believe the
corporate sharks, when they tell me I can be held responsible for what I write.
I hereby apologize for any misinformation or misdirections I might have given.
Good enough?
--
Keith L. Smyth
President
Smyth Consulting
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Voting for someone because they are black is as racist
as voting against someone because they are black.
Beware an intrusive government.
GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technical Documentation Consultant
________________________________
Message: 19
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 08:45:35 -0400
From: Fred Ridder <docudoc at hotmail.com>
To: <keith.smyth at att.net>, <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: RE: best use of graphics in FM (was: framers Digest, Vol 77,
Issue 17)
Message-ID: <SNT117-W11E57AE6A9BE82720B92CCBA410 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
I'm afraid this is a misinterpretation on several levels.
First of all, there is no such thing as "Tort's Third Law". Tort is not a
person, and there is no single law or even a code of laws that define torts,
since they are *civil* offences rather than criminal ones. What I have to assume
you are referrint to is "Restatements of the Law Third, Torts: Products
Liability", which is a publication of the American Law Institute that assembles
and codifies case law (decisions made by judges rather than black letter law
that is established by legislative action). The third in this title refer to the
third restatement (the restatements need to be revised and extended as new case
law is established), not a third law.
Second, it is not correct that "The emphasis of the Tort Law is consumer
protection". Besides the fact that there is no "the Tort Law", the reality is
that standard definitions of tort law indicate that it deals with situations
where a person suffers unfair loss or harm as the result of another person's
action(s). The vast majority of tort suits are between two individuals over
common things like auto accidents, tresspass and property disputes, and
defamation (libel and slander) and less common things like copyright
infringement, none of which have anything to do with consumer protection. Only
the products liability branch of tort law really falls under the consumer
protection heading, but it should also be noted that a very large number of
consumer protection issues are actually matters of contract law rather than tort
law.
Third, the passage you quotes is not a law. It is, in fact, a clarifying
subsection for the section of the Restatement Third that deals with "Liability
of Commercial Seller or Distributor for Harm Caused by Defective Products". This
section states that "One engaged in the business of selling or otherwise
distributing products who sells or distributes a defective product is subject to
liability for harm to persons or property caused by the defect". But it is
important to note that this section only identifies the vendor as liable.
And I'll leave aside your gratuitous comments about unions and big business and
ploiticians, which have no place on the FrameUsers list.
-Fred Ridder
------------------------------
Message: 21
Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2012 09:47:33 -0700
From: "Combs, Richard" <richard.combs at Polycom.com>
To: Keith Smyth <keith.smyth at att.net>, "framers at lists.frameusers.com"
<framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: RE: framers Digest, Vol 77, Issue 17
Message-ID:
<C5D089C86687BC4DBBABE1CC5B3E45FC0173C5EE5E at CRPMBOXPRD01.polycom.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I don't take legal advice - or political advice - from someone who talks about
"Tort's Third Law" as if some fellow named Tort wrote it.
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of Keith Smyth
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2012 4:22 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: framers Digest, Vol 77, Issue 17
Ken, it might be a good idea to inform you MANAGER of the Third Tort Law.
You need to protect yourself by getting written instructions on what to include,
and not include in the document. I saw this happen to an individual I was
working with. Fortunately, he had signed instructions from the Product Manager
to not include some safety instructions, as it would "upset the customer". So
when a customer got burned badly, the customer went after the company, the
company went after the writer, and the writer offered up the program manager,
who got fired, and sued. Yeah, CYA.
Tort's Third Law
It is a good idea to be versed in Tort Law, specifically Tort's Third Law. The
emphasis of the Tort Law is consumer protection. Tort Law did for the consumer
what the unions did for the worker. According to the Third Law, "A product is
defective when, at the time of sale or distribution, it contains a manufacturing
defect, is defective in design or is defective because of INADEQUATE
INSTRUCTIONS OR WARNINGS."
This is important to any of us in the technical writing domain, as it puts the
onus on us to provide adequate (and standard) instructions, which includes
warnings in the instructions (and on labels if that is a part of our job). Most
writers are completely oblivious to their responsibility under the Tort Law and
many companies are equally oblivious (or choose to ignore).
As such, they are also ignorant to the fact that they can be sued in a liability
action, as a company and as individuals, for their failure to provide adequate
instructions and warnings.
To make matters even more complicated, it's a double-edged sword for a writer.
Business loves to hate the Tort Law and tends to kill the messenger. If you, as
the writer, are doing a proper job, you are the messenger.
There are also very few places that teach you this stuff - even the university
tech writing courses overlook it.
If you muck around without knowing the standards and the law, you could get
yourself and your clients sued.
BTW, The Big B (big business) is currently throwing a lot of money at our
political types to try and weaken the Tort Law and relieve themselves of the
burden of liability (recalling those bloody toys that kill or maim kids is such
a blessed nuisance and just munches away at the bottom line).
In addition, any politicians who do not play ball will find themselves up
against some pretty big bucks intent on running them out on a rail. The
republicans in particular are fond of coming to the aid of Big B and can be
counted on to slam dunk your protection under the current law.
--
Keith L. Smyth
President
Smyth Consulting
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Voting for someone because they are black is as racist
as voting against someone because they are black.
Beware an intrusive government.
GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technical Documentation Consultant
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