Legal Affairs / General

Policy requirement to comply with statutory or regulatory standards requires reasonable care not absolute compliance

An Australian court has interpreted the obligation in a business liability policy to ‘comply with legislation and Australian Standards’ coupled with a general condition requiring the insured to ‘take reasonable care to avoid causing harm’ as requiring reasonableness and not absolute compliance.

Attention shoppers: The law is on your side

Those little presticked notices of ‘if you break this, consider it sold’ or the ‘7 day return policy’ that you are so kindly informed of when you return the toy that broke on day one, have no basis. That’s according to PJ Veldhuizen of Gillan and Veldhuizen Incorporated, a Cape Town-based attorney firm who specialise in litigation. The Consumer Protection Act was introduced (and amended in 2015) to protect the right of the consumer. However, although many of us are aware of the CPA, not many shoppers are familiar with the rights the Act provides them in terms of defective goods and return policies.

Number of exploding appliances and digital devices skyrocket: what are your rights?

The numbers of reported faulty consumer products, exploding appliances, toys, smartphones, and other digital devices are on the rise, as well as spontaneously combusting cars like the now notorious Ford Kuga, all have consumers diving for cover.

Sitting is not an ‘accident’ (US)