TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE: Why do we put so many warnings in our manuals?
Subject:RE: Why do we put so many warnings in our manuals? From:"Kight, Cindy K." <Cindy -dot- Kight -at- Gilbarco -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 30 Jul 2002 15:12:12 -0700
No, the courts aren't always right. We abide by them, but they're not
always right. And sometimes they ARE ridiculous, and we have every right
express our disagreements.
Innocent people have been unjustly imprisoned or condemned to death. Guilty
people sometimes get away with it. (Sadly, it appears that such a case may
have happened here in California, resulting the tragic death of an innocent
girl.)
Product liability laws were passed to protect consumers. But this has been
abused. The mentality that one should 'stick it to the big corporations'
because they can 'afford it' drives many lawsuits and costs us all money in
the long run. Unfortunately, not all juries see this. Fortunately, there
is an appeals process.
Cindy Kight
Technical Communications Manager
RMS Group - Gilbarco, Inc.
Glendale, CA
> <Unlike many of the...well, self-righteous, ignorant blowhards is too
> strong....posters on this subject, I've been involved in a product
liability
> lawsuit involving improper instructions. >
>
>
> This sounds like a legitimate product liability issue.
It isn't up to you, or me, or anyone on the list to define legally a product
liability issue. That's for the court system.
> But don't get down on the rest of the list. No one has said anything
about
> legitimate warnings or actual product liability.
Uh, yeah they have....coffee at a fast-food, dentists, medical
malpractice....
> But the fact that a company now has to warn users not to iron their
clothes
> while wearing them because some airhead did that and sued them IS
> ridiculous.
And what happened? Did the court hold for the airhead or the iron
manufacturer. The United States of America is a wonderful country. Anyone
can take their case to court, but not everyone can win. It's like the
answer Sister Mary Ignatius gave when asked "Why doesn't God answer my
prayers?" God always answers our prayers, but most of the time the answer
is "No."
===================
steve arrants http://www.compbear.com Certified Cruelty Free
"The dream was marvelous, but the terror was great.
We must treasure the dream, whatever the terror."
---Gilgamesh
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Buy RoboHelp Deluxe starting at only $798: you'll get RoboDemo, the hot new
software demonstration tool that's taking the Help authoring world by storm,
together with RoboHelp Office. Learn more at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.