Re: Can Clerks/Cashiers Make a Corporation Liable?

First, there is some question about whether the adapter was actually set
to the wrong voltage. In one paragraph, you say that the brick was set
to the correct voltage, while in the next paragraph you say that the
wrong tip was used. Is there a switch on the adapter to set voltage?
Or does the tip used set the voltage (I have a Targus adapter that does
the latter, for example).

If the voltage is set by a switch on the brick, then using the wrong tip
could *at most* be responsible for abnormal wear or poor contact at the
DC input jack - not for any damage to the laptop's circuitry.

Second, has anyone actually diagnosed the laptop failure as being caused
by incorrect voltage? How do they know? Can they establish this in
court? Maybe the laptop just failed without any help from the adapter.

In any case, in my opinion the fault here is almost all your friend's.
He bought a "universal" adapter, which could be configured to work with
many laptops, yet he clearly didn't read the manual himself, nor do
anything else to ensure the adapter was properly configured for his
laptop. That's his responsibility if he buys an off-brand device.

If he was too inexperienced to read and understand the manual,
he could have bought the "official" power supply from the manufacturer
(and thus leave no chance of screwing up), or he could have paid a
computer service person to locate and set up a suitable power supply.
Since you pay computer service people for their (supposedly) expert
advice, they should accept responsibility if their advice causes damage.

But, instead, he took the advice of a store clerk and didn't check it.
Clerks are (at most) skilled at selling you things, not providing
technical advice - and you didn't pay him anything for technical advice.
Therefore I don't think the store has any liability.

The friend can still complain, or sue the store if they want. But
frankly I think they deserve to lose any suit.

Dave
.

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