Has there ever been any instances of a company being sued because of their e-liquid? I haven't been able to find a single case after doing some looking on my own. Is everyone recommending liability insurance so strongly because of potential future discoveries? For a small company selling strictly online, is it really 100% necessary?
I know that the parents of the toddler who died recently from accessing 100 mg/ml nic the parents left open are talking about suing Heartland Vapes where they bought it from, because the nic didn't come with a childproof cap. Even though said childproof cap would not have prevented the death of their child, because they left the damn bottle open.
Liability insurance is just a good idea all around. I would factor it into your costs.
That case really infuriates me. They left it uncapped - this could have happened with any household cleaner, or a knife, or a small sharp object that can be swallowed, medicine. The product is exactly what it is, and this is just a result of neglect on the family's part.
Sucks for the kid...but if the parents left a bottle of bleach uncapped nobody would even entertain this as a possible issue with product liability. It's a toxic chemical with legitimate use - this shit's gonna happen if you are careless with it.
You don't by chance have a link to this somewhere do you?
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Case-closed-in-Fort-Plain-liquid-nicotine-death-6195411.php?cmpid=twitter
They're not just talking about suing Heartland, they are suing. In any product liability case you sue the entire supply chain. Toddler drank some 100mg base while the parent wasn't watching.
It's truly a horrible, tragic case and it underlines the necessity for safe storage of poisons.
I completely agree. Very unfortunate, and very saddening situation. But it sounds like the parents need to take responsibility for their actions. That company should not be liable for how customers store their product. The parents should have stored it better, in an area restricted from the child. Clearly they had used the nicotine, and must have had knowledge of its hazards.
Another sterling example of the American legal system at work. "So you left a bottle of a highly toxic substance open near an unsupervised child who then ingested it and sadly passed away? Yeah? Better sue the company who provided it"
This wouldn't even make it to a courtroom to get laughed out of it anywhere else on the planet.
Fort Plain is about 25 minutes from me, Some of the people I work with live in FP, I caught a ton of flack when this happened from co workers and even my own mother. Regardless of the circumstances being explained to them. Unfortunately,people only see what they want to see, and people need a scapegoat.
I was surprised how shoddily packaged my nic was. It comes in a PET plastic bottle with a screw on cap that will NOT stop leaking if turned upside down. They need to find a more secure bottling (leak-proof) method for this stuff, imo. The PET is fine, the caps are not.
For any business selling a consumable product, you are going to have a very difficult time avoiding liability for damages resulting from consumption of your product. People incorporate to avoid personal liability for all kinds of businesses, and it would be foolish to incorporate and not then have insurance coverage. There are thousands of people slinging bathtub juice- do you want to join them and risk it? Choose your own adventure, but choose wisely.
Yes, it is 100% a necessity. Your small size and online-only presence are non-factors.
If you sell a product and a person is injured by it, you will be sued. It doesn't matter if you did everything completely correctly and no lawyer will take pity on you for emotional reasons such as size and distribution.
Litigation in product liability cases always names everyone in the entire supply chain as a matter of course. Take for instance a person who got sick from e-liquid purchased at a B&M. They'd sue the B&M from which they purchased it, the distributor that sold it to the B&M, the company that made the liquid, and on up the chain.
Don't worry about there being no direct legal precedent for e-liquids suits (which will, inevitably happen). You're selling a product, vis-a-vis you need liability insurance.
CALCO is a very widely-used (and one of the only) insurer in the e-liquid industry. Their E Cigarette Insurance site has some preliminary information (I'm not affiliated, I just know their wide scope).
You would be stupid doing most businesses without liability coverage...
> You would be stupid doing ~~most~~ any business without liability coverage...
well, i originally wrote that but then thought some smart ass would be like, well you dont need liability insurance to do graphic design... or some shit like that. but food, beverage, service stuff. MANDATORY.
Unless it was a major lawsuit that caused serious harm, it probably wouldn't be news worthy and most people wouldn't hear a thing about it.
With that being said, anyone running a business without liability insurance is asking for serious trouble.... I do wildlife photography on the side and I not only carry full insurance on my equipment, I also carry a lot of liability insurance just on the off chance that someone or something gets damaged because of either myself or my gear.
The prices of policy's are determined by a lot of different factors but a few phone calls to some insurance agencies will give you some quick estimates.
It only takes once. The real problem is that we've never had a case, so we have no idea what kind of standards it will be held to, or what kind of penalties exist for losing.
It stands to be pretty severe depending on what the cause of the suit is. I personally wouldn't risk it. Insurance is far cheaper than court costs and fines.
As a former insurance agent and a vapor here's what I would say to a client: My job is to assume a worst case scenario for you and determine your liability from that. So if you're selling a product that people are going to be consuming and lets be really honest here a product that isn't entirely without risk when done correctly, and possibly down right dangerous when mixed incorrectly (being maybe too much nicotine, maybe some kind of chemical accidently gets in a bottle, maybe a cleaning product used by the company you bought your bottles from is toxic and you where unaware). So my question to you would be, when someone either dies or is severely injured from consuming your product are you prepared to pay all their related medical costs and associated legal fees. If you answer 'yes' and have less than a $300,000 bond in the bank or something, you're lying to yourself.
Also don't forget unless you have registered your business as something other than a sole-proprietorship than if something does happen with one of your products and someone sues your business, then all of your personal assets are going to be in the lawsuit as well.
I really want to know more about this as well. Someone told me you can get a policy for around 300 a month. Please chime in if this is correct or not.
Depends on a # of factors but for product liability the main determining factor is going to be the $$$ amount you sell per year, depending on a few other factors. For $1 mil in liability coverage in TX I would think around $150-$300 depending on variables. That being said I got of insurance 2 years ago so things may have changed. Call someone and ask for a quote it should be simple, although some Agents just really drag their feet on commercial policies (either lazy or unkowledgable if you feel like that's the case then just call someone else)