Posted on Monday, February 02, 2009 - 11:05 pm:

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Posted on Thursday, October 12, 2006 - 12:30 pm:
These are exciting times and there are exciting things going on.

In the coming weeks, we're going to revisit some of the basics of customer service.

Some of this will be Buell related, some won't be. I submit that some of the basic principles are fairly portable between various brands and products.

Topics will range from simple human nature and behavior, we'll talk about processes and procedures to see what you like and don't like and I'm going to entertain some discussion to encourage some creative input as to what Buell could do to provide world class customer service.

In addition, I'll share some of my personal thoughts on some of the less effective means of achieving resolution.

For those of you who are interested, I'll periodically be making reference to a number of books in my personal library. If you want details, feel free to ask.

The one I am polishing off now is particularly timely given some of the recent scuffles over customer service. Here is the index of my current "bedside light reading"

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PART l: THE DEFECTIVE PRODUCT

A. What Makes a Design Defective?

Sheila L. Birnbaum, Unmasking the Test for Design Defect: From Negligence [to Warranty] to Strict Liability to Negligence, 33 VAND. L. REV. 593 (1980)

John W. Wade, On The Nature of Strict Tort Liability for Products, 44 MISS. L.J. 825 (1973)

Richard A. Epstein, The Risks of Risk/Utility, 48 OHIO ST. L.J. 469 (1987)

James A. Henderson, Jr., Judicial Review of Manufacturers' Conscious Design Choices: The Limits of Adjudication, 73 COLUM. L. REV. 1531 (1973)

B. Failure to Warn

James A. Henderson, Jr. & Aaron D. Twerski, Doctrinal Collapse in Products Liability: The Empty Shell of Failure To waft' 65 N.Y.U. L. REV. 265 (1990)

Howard Latin, "Good" Warnings, Bad Products, and Cognitive Limitations, 41 UCLA L. REV. 1193 (1994)


PART II: FOCUS ON THE CONSUMER

Marshall S. Shapo, A Representational Theory of Consumer Protection: Doctrine, Function and Legal Liability for Product Disappointment, 60 VA. L. REV. 1109 (1974)

RICHARD A. EPSTEIN, MODERN PRODUCTS LIABILITY LAW (1980)


PART III: PRODUCTS LIABILITY WITHIN OTHER LEGAL DOMAINS

A. Tort Law

William L. Prosser, The Assault Upon The Citadel (Strict Liability to the Consumer), 69 YALE L.J. 1099 (1960)

William C. Powers, Jr., The Persistence of Fault in Products Liability, 61 TEX. L. REV. 777 (1983)

MALCOLM WHEELER, The Need for Narrow Tort Reform: Abolishing Strict Product Liability, in PRODUCT LIABILITY REFORM: DEBATING THE ISSUES (Kenneth L. Chilton ea., 1990)

B. Contract Law

William L. Prosser, The Implied Warranty of Merchantable Quality, 27 MINN. L. REV. 1 17 (1943)

George L. Priest, A Theory of the Consumer Product Warranty, 90 YALE L.J. 1297 (1981)

Grant Gilmore, Products Liability: A Commentary, 38 U. CHI. L. REV. 103 (1 970)

C. Crime and Punishment

Michael B. Metzger, Corporate Criminal Liability for Defective Products: Policies, Problems, and Prospects, 73 GEO. L.J. 1 (1984)

Revised Annotated Reprimand by Chief Judge Miles W. Lord, 9 HAMLINE L. REV. 7 (1986)

David G. Owen, Problems In Assessing Punitive Damages Against Manufacturers of Defective Products, 49 U. CHI. L. REV. 1 (1982)

Michael Rustad, In Defense of Punitive Damages in Products Liability: Testing Tort Anecdotes With Empirical Data, 78 IOWA L. REV. 1 (1992)


PART IV: THE COLLECTIVE GOALS OF PRODUCTS LIABILITY

A. Safety

George L. Priest, Products Liability Law and the Accident Rate, in LIABILITY: PERSPECTIVES AND POLICY (Robert E. Litan & Clifford L. Winston eds., 1988)

Peter W. Huber, Safety and the Second Best: The Hazards of Public Risk Management in the Courts, 85 COLUM. L. REV. 277 (1985)

Stephen P. Teret & Michael S. Jacobs, Prevention and Torts: The Role of Litigation in Injury Control, 17 LAW, MED. & HEALTH CARE 17 (1985)

B. Insurance

Victor E. Schwartz and Liberty Mahshigian, National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986: An Ad Hoc Remedy or a Window For the Future? 48 OHIO ST. L.J. 387 (1987)

George L. Priest, The Current Insurance Crisis and Modern Tort Law, 96 YALE L.J. 1521 (1987)

Ernest J. Weinrib, The Insurance Justification and Private Law, 14 J. LEGAL STUD. 681 (1985)

C. An Assessment

W. Kip Viscusi, Toward a Diminished Role for Tort Liability: Social Insurance Government Regulation, and Contemporary Risks to Health and Safety, 6 YALE J. REG. 65 (1989)


PART V: THE PRODUCTS LIABILITY CRISIS

A. What Crisis?

Sidley & Austin, The Need for Legislative Reform of the Tort System: A Report on the Liability Crisis From Affected Organizations, 10 HAMLINE L. REV. 2 (1987)

James A. Henderson, Jr. & Theodore Eisenberg, The Quiet Revolution in Products Liability: An Empirical Study of Legal Change, 37 UCLA L. REV. 479 (1990)

Richard L. Abel, The Real Tort CrisissToo Few Claims, 48 OHIO ST. L.J. 443 (1987)

B. The Effect of Liability on Innovation

PETER W. HUBER AND ROBERT E. LITAN, Overview, in THE LIABILITY MAZE THE IMPACT OF LIABILITY LAW ON SAFETY AND INNOVATION (1991)

Robert M. McKenna, The Impact of Product Liability Law on the Development of a Vaccine Against the AIDS Virus, 55 U. CHI. L. REV. 943 (1988)


PART Vl: PERSPECTIVES ON PRODUCTS LIABILITY

A. Focus on the Product

ANITA BERNSTEIN, Product Dynamism and the Law, in MEANING. MEASURE, AND MORALITY OF MATERIALISM (Floyd Rudmin & Marsha Richins eds., 1992)

B. Feminism

Leslie Bender, Feminist (Re)Torts: Thoughts on the Liability Crisis, Mass Torts, Power, and Responsibilities, 1990 DUKE L.J. 848 (1990)

Joan E. Steinman, Women, Medical Care, and Mass Tort Litigation, 68 CHI.-KENT L. REV. 409 (1992)

Frances P. Kao, Pornography as Product

C. Economics

Guido Calabresi and Jon T. Hirschoff, Toward a Test for Strict Liability in Torts, 81 YALE L.J. 1055 (1972)

Alan Schwartz, The Case Against Strict Liability, 60 FORDHAM L. REV. 819 (1992)

D. Moral Philosophy

John B. Attanasio, The Principle of Aggregate Autonomy and the Calabresian Approach to Products Liability, 74 VA. L REV. 677 (1988)

David G. Owen, The Moral Foundations of Products Liability Law: Toward first Principles, 68 NOTRE DAME L. REV. 427 (1993)

E. Comparative Law

J.A. JOLOWICZ, Product Liability in the EEC, in COMPARATIVE AND PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW ESSAYS IN HONOR OF JOHN HENERY MERRYMAN ON HIS SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY (David S. Clark ed., 1990)

GARY T. SCHWARTZ, Product Liability and Medical Malpractice in Comparative Context, in THE LIABILITY MAZE: THE IMPACT OF LIABILITY LAW ON SAFETY AND INNOVATION (Peter w. Huber & Robert E. Litan eds., 1991)

H. Patrick Glenn, Judicial Authority and the Liability of the Manufacturer, or Jusqu'ou Peut-on Aller Trop Loin? 38 AM. J. COMP. L. 555 (1990)



You'll find two of my all-time favorite authors in that list (yes, I read REALLY DULL crap!) and we may touch on a few product liability issues, but generally just to dispel some of the myths of the internet.

We're going to start on the premise that the very purpose of CUSTOMER service is customer oriented, not driven simply by avoidance of liability.

These are fascinating times and I'll be eager to get some help and input.

Court

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