Can He…law Suit?
Sam, a farmer from California, needs to lift a 2500 pound generator from the floor of his barn to a hayloft 15-18ft off the floor. Sam goes to Home Depot and tells a sales associate that he “needs some heavy duty rope to use on my farm” The sales associate recommends the one-inch-thick, heavy duty nylon rope and Sam buys 150ft. of it. Sam, later that day attaches the rope to the motor generator, pulls the rope through a pulley with the aid of a tractor and lifts the generator off the floor. Suddenly the rope breaks. The generator falls to the ground and hurts Sam. Sam files a suit against Home Depot for damages…. Who wins and why??
December 10th, 2009 at 9:53 pm
HD wins……the guy never specified what was being done on the farm….he just said “some heavy duty rope to use”. He gave him heavy duty rope in the employee’s opinion. Sam should have specified and then the tensilary strength of the rope could have been determined.
December 11th, 2009 at 2:59 am
Home Depot wins. Sam didn’t thouroughly explain what he was using the rope for, he just said he needed “heavy duty rope to use on the farm.” Had he explained what he was doing, the sales associate should have explained the rope wasn’t adequate for his needs, offered other options, or advised Sam to get professional assistance in this job. If Sam had adequately explained what he was planning to do and the sales associate sold him the rope stating ” Oh yes, this is exactly what you need for this job, this rope will hold up under those circumstances.”, then Home Depot would have been liable, and Sam would have won.
December 11th, 2009 at 3:10 am
Home depot wins
The reason is that they aren’t responsible for damages done. He ultimately bought it should have known whether it would hold it or not. If it was supposed to hold more than that, then it would be the company that makes the rope at fault. However, if it wasn’t supposed to hold that then he is in a losing battle.
December 11th, 2009 at 9:21 am
First off…nobody wins. I assume Sam sues Home Depot. Sam loses because 1. you are not supposed to lift any object over your head. 2. The pulleys could have damaged the rope and were not bought at Home Depot and 3. Home Depot cannot be held liable for how Sam uses the rope. If he hung his gf with the rope, her family could not sue Home Dpot because Sam bought the rope their either.
Sam loses
December 11th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
The term “heavy duty” can mean a lot of different things. If the farmer was vague in describing what he needed, he can’t hold Home Depot responsible. If he can prove that he was specific as to what he needed & what he was going to use it for, then there may be some liability on Home Depot.
December 11th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
It will be thrown out of court. Because there is no way to show that it was Home Depots fault. He can’t even prove that this other person told him what kind of rope to use.