Wednesday, August 29th 2007
IBM Being Sued After $1.4m Server Falls off Forklift
Yet another crazy American lawsuit seems to be on the cards as federal contractor T.R. Systems Inc. attempts to sue IBM after a $1.4 million IBM server fell from a forklift truck during transit. According to T.R. Systems, the rear wheels of the forklift being used to move the server hit a raised surface, causing the server to rock slightly and break the pallet holding it, resulting in the server falling onto the curb and being damaged. In the court documents, T.R Systems said "The damages sustained by T.R. Systems were due to the poor workmanship and/or defective packaging design and methods used by IBM to pack the servers prior to shipping." However, IBM has already filed a motion with the court asking for the case to be dismissed claiming that the accident was down to the forklift truck's driver, stating "No evidence exists that anything but [T.R. Systems'] negligence caused this accident." Now T.R Systems is now trying to claim more than $1.4 million in damages as it was forced to buy a new server after IBM refused to take the server back to its facility for testing.
Source:
COMPUTER WORLD
43 Comments on IBM Being Sued After $1.4m Server Falls off Forklift
Something is odd here. I think IBM's going to win this one.
I am a little surprised that they refused to take a look at the server or repair it (unless they were already being blamed and TR wanted them to do it for free).
You don't know what they were for, and downtime can mean big $$$$.
IBM must accept full responsibility. IBM is responsible for all packing materials, including the pallet.
IBM has no legal standing, if T.R. Systems is telling the truth. IBM must prove T.R. is lying to the court.
DaMulta is also right, IBM has demonstrated negligence towards this customer who has just blown a cool million on their hardware.
Now IBM is taking all the bad press "up the ars"!:nutkick:
Regards,
jtleon
"Oh I'm gonna sue McDonalds for making me fat"
IBM must prove (as the defendant) that said pallet workmanship and construction materials were structurally sound and said pallet design included the necessary factors of safety to be appropriate packaging for a $1,000,000 product.
Now if the pallet did not break, and IBM can prove so by re-enacting the incident with the same forklift, pallet, and curb, for the court, then they may have a substantive defense.
Note that the greatest burden of proof lies upon IBM, if T.R. properly structures their evidence.
It is quite ridiculous that IBM did not see fit to invest a little more in this customer to repair the server, rather than let the matter go to court. Has Corporate America become so pompous that the customer (i.e. corporate reputation) has no useful value to future business?
Regards,
jtleon
No pallet is designed to handle the strain of the load falling sideways because the forklift operator's poor driving, and no pallet or any packaging material is designed to handle that strain, and it shouldn't have to handle that type of strain.
The fact is, if the forklift operator had done his job correctly, and not ran over an uneven surface, the server would not have tipped over, and the pallet would not have broken. It is the forklift driver's responsibility to make sure he is unloading in a safe environment, he failed to do that, so it is his fault. A lot of businesses don't have loading docks that the truck can back up to like that.
And my guess is that TR wanted them to do it for free since they seem to think it is IBM's fault that their driver dropped the load.
In any event, IBM deserves the public scrutiny for allowing this issue to reach a courtroom.
Regards,
jtleon
The other question that is not eluded to in the article is whether or not the forklift was large enough for the item in question. Did the pallet break because it was not fully on the forks because it was so large ?
Inquiring minds want to know !! :D
Unemployment line anyone?
Apologies in advance to all for my persistence on this, I am unfortunately the Safety Director here at my day job. I have investigated too many accidents, and have developed an appetite for such effort.
Regards,
jtleon
However, this raises a new issue, perhaps he had it raised so high so that he could see under it? I know a lot of rookie forklift operators tend to do this.