Question
Lukas owned a small factory of long-standing reputation, and bid successfully on a contract from Atlas Aircraft. The aerospace manufacturer's contract was for Lukas to
Lukas owned a small factory of long-standing reputation, and bid successfully on a contract from Atlas Aircraft. The aerospace manufacturer's contract was for Lukas to supply custom-made hydraulic cylinders for landing-gear assemblies. To execute the job, Lukas required a heavy metal milling machine capable of handling large pieces with high degrees of precision. He had heard of the impressive capability of the Stormsen 1500 mill and placed an order for one, which in time was delivered and installed. Over a period of months, Lukas found the machine was constantly working out of adjustment, causing much of its output to fail quality control. Six times, Lukas caught as many as 2 faults in a job lot of 20 cylinders, and on one early occasion Atlas Aircraft returned a cylinder as substandard. After consulting all the Stormsen manuals, looking for an adjustment solution, Lukas called in the area distributor for consultation. No long term solution to the wandering adjustment seemed apparent, and Lukas began placing calls to the Stormsen Company itself. In the meantime more cylinders had been rejected by Atlas, whose chief engineer (a personal friend of Lukas) wrote Lukas a letter wondering why "suddenly [it] was receiving crap." Lukas' calls to Stormsen were fielded by an engineer/ manager, Lewis Cranston, but Lukas remained far from satisfied. Within another month, Lukas visited a tradeshow where Stormsen machines were displayed, and in the display area was Cranston. The two, meeting for the first time, exchanged words before the shouting began. In the end, they had drawn quite a crowd of factory owners and two writers from a trade journal. The exchange ended with Lukas brandishing the Atlas letter before the onlookers, shouting "The 1500 produces crap, Atlas calls the 1500 crap, and I call the 1500 crap!" Discuss the tort issues that may arise from this situation.
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