Background Facts:

You are a practicing lawyer and the child of Mr. John andMrs. Jane Cybertron. Both Cybertron's are highly educated and practicing engineers. Both the Cybertron's quit their employment and invested all their savings to start a small company (with no other employees). The Cybertrons have built a "Dronie." This Dronie is a drone with the capacity to provide the owners with directions to almost any location using Google maps. Additionally, this Dronie will follow the owner and be able to provide services such as music, companionship, answer questions, make telephone calls, call for help, etc.. all at the response of the owners' voice. The Dronies will need places to re-charge frequently. The Dronies have pre-built Dronie charging stations to which the drone will fly when the Dronie is low on battery. Once sufficiently charged, the Dronie will fly back to its designated owner. The Dronie is meant to be used where there is sufficient cell tower connectivity. The Dronie has broad appeal and usage across all age ranges.

The Dronie is tethered to the owner wirelessly through a beacon transmitted from the owners' wristwatch or jewelry. This beacon comes with the Dronie upon purchase. The Dronie automatically avoids objects in its path, duck under doors or emit a warning sound if there is an obstruction in front of the owner's pathway.

Dronie contains artificial intelligence which "learns" the owners' voice. Although the warning indicates that at times, the voice can be mistaken for another. The Dronie is programmed with Google maps and as indicated on the packaging and warning label, it must be updated frequently to accurately reflect any changes in mapping. The company will not be held responsible if the Dronie was not updated and did not reflect the current topography or accurate map. The Dronie has the ability to "learn" the name of frequent locations. For example, "Hey Dronie, go to Marges house." Dronie will associate the GPS coordinates of Marges house with the name Marge.

Powering the Dronie is the most technically challenging. When purchasing the Dronie, the owner will receive five Dronie charging stations. When the power indicator goes below a certain point, Dronie will fly to one of these charging stations to charge. When charged, Dronie will fly back to the original owner.

Dronies are only sold through online transactions and those acquiring the drones are required to agree through the click agreement that they grant permission to other purchasers of Dronies to use their inductive charging perches when unoccupied by other Dronies.

The Cybertron's entered into an agreement w a homeowner's association of a gated community, consisting of 500 homes. This gated community consists of golf courses, swimming pools, tennis courts, and many small manmade lakes filled with fish for those residents who wish to spend time fishing or boating on a lake.

One resident of each of the households receives a free Dronie for free if they agree to allow free installation of a powered dronie charging station on the eaves of their home, promise to provide survey feedback about their experiences with the Dronie, and click the new owners' agreement. Each new owner of the Dronie was supplied a unique code to enter when ordering. Over 90% of the homeowners agreed to the terms and conditions.

Your parents are receiving great feedback and the Dronie popularity is growing daily! Your parents are getting multiple requests for Dronies across the United States. Expected growth and profit predictions are in the millions, that is... if you (the lawyer) can solve a few legal issues.

LEGAL ISSUE #1:

Jasmine Jaggles is a homeowner in this gated community who agreed to the terms and has acquired a Dronie. Jasmine has enjoyed the Dronie and uses it often, until last week. Jasmine's elderly sister, Laura, has come to Jasmine's home to visit as she usually does. Laura has recently seen her Dr. who diagnosed her with the early signs of Alzheimer's.

Laura's husband had called Jasmine and asked Jasmine to have Laura come back home before it gets dark. Laura begged Jasmine to try out Dronie. Jasmine decided that Laura would be safer w Dronie versus walking back home alone. Jasmine also concluded that Laura's symptoms were not that bad as Laura was able to find her way to Jasmine's home without any help. Jasmine assumed that Laura would be ok, as she would follow her regular route and not have to cross any streets. Jasmine strapped the watch (beacon) onto Laura and sent Laura home. Jasmine told Dronie, "Hey Dronie, go to Laura's house." Laura and Dronie both headed back towards Laura's home.

All was going well until Laura got to the point in the road that was now covered by water. Dronie was unable to detect this water and continued to fly/direct Laura to go straight into the water. Laura got very confused and stressed. as she cannot swim. Laura told Dronie to stop, but as it was not the original owner's voice, Dronie did not stop. Laura attempted to grab the Dronie, but slipped and fell into the water. Laura's husband heard some screaming in the distance, ran out to find his wife Laura in the water struggling. Laura was pulled out and resuscitated. Laura experienced brain damage. Laura's husband is suing the Cybertron's for medical care expenses, pain and suffering, and an injunction to ensure that the Dronie's are never sold on the marketplace ever again.

Your parents have no insurance that would cover their liability under these extreme conditions. The Cybertrons believe that the fault would be that of Jasmine and the husband for placing Laura in a situation that could potentially compromise her safety, especially after being aware of Alzheimer's diagnosis. The Cybertron's strongly feel that the accident was NOT caused by the Dronie, the Dronie was functioning as indicated and that Jasmine invalidated the click agreement by not following the rules.

-Additionally, this was provided for FREE and there was no sale or purchase. Does this impact the level of liability?

-The husband may be looking for recovery of damages under a breach of implied warranty. "Implied warranties are essentially implied promises from the seller to the buyer that the product if used as it is supposed to be used, will not harm the purchaser," Why is or isn't this a good claim?

-Did Jasmine invalidate the contract and act negligently by allowing another user to wear the beacon/watch?

-Will the husband additionally argue the extension of privity exists: "any person who can reasonably be expected to use the product," and/or "the family members or guests of the immediate buyer" . Is this a good argument, why or why not? Was this item used as intended?

Part of the warning label was that Google maps needs to be kept updated, in order to reflect any changes in topography, streets, etc... As a layer, is this an important fact to learn in asserting your case? Why or why not?

-The husband may argue an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. "This warranty is created if a seller knows that the buyer is looking to use the goods for a particular purpose, even if that is not the conventional purpose normally associated with those goods.". Is this a valid argument, why or why not?