myers@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Jeff Myers) (06/24/87)
The SE fan saga continues... No messages received via usenet, other than a query from another soul about what I had heard, if not nil. Received message from Apple campus rep, who among other things claims his SE fan is quiet. He also wishes me to point out that he does NOT wear his Apple Rep hat if he receives a message on the user group BBS. I apologize, Mr. Anonymous, for being so totally gauche. I also will no longer use the local user group's AppleLink address or phone number in my signature file (the former removal was requested by Mr. Anonymous). Please be kind and do not revoke my downloading privileges ;-). I further apologize for being such a pain in the butt, both to Mr. Anonymous and to the gentle readers of this forum. But on with the saga... [Side question: is Apple listed as 'Apple Manufacturing' on the NYSE, or is that something else??? Sure wish I had bought that stock back in December :-) ] I must also note that I realize that no Apple employee on usenet has the responsibility for dealing with complaints about the SE's fan. THAT responsibility lies with the top dogs concerned about the cost of warranty servicing a significant number of machines. I am somewhat disappointed that Apple seems not to have learned from the Imagewriter II experience and been a bit more open and caring about the SE fan noise problem. For the record: (1) I am not an SE owner. (2) I am not a lawyer. (3) I would sue Apple if I owned an SE in order to gain litigation experience in federal court and in contract law. (4) As I do not have a liscense to practice law, I will not represent another in such litigation. (5) I will, however, present some info which might be useful to someone else wishing to pursue litigation. (6) Given the high cost/benefit ratio in suing Apple for most SE owners who read usenet, I doubt that this information will be put to use [but it will make me feel better to present it]. (7) I WILL NOT BRING UP THIS MATTER IN THE LEGAL COMMUNITY PER SE -- I would like to see Apple begin to do better in the legal market [having a decent word processor would help -- FullWrite? Word 3.01?] -- I have no interest in injuring Apple, but rather an interest in improving their image via an improvement in corporate response to legitimate hardware problems with their products. I will not even go so far as to post this in net.legal (or whatever it is called now). A class action suit in the federal district court of your choice would get Apple's attention. At, say, $200 per SE, you would only have to show that 50 SE owners are affected by the litigation to get you over the $10,000 hurdle in a diversity jurisdiction based federal action. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 23 [Class Actions], 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1332 [Diversity of Citizenship actions]. Now, the cause of action would be a breach of the implied warranty of merchantibility. UCC Sec. 2-314. If Apple offers to cure by invoking their remedy limitation allowing them to return your money, refuse to accept that and invoke the language of UCC Sec. 2-719 [Contractual Modification or Limitation of Remedy]. Essentially you would argue that cure by money return in this instance would cause the limited remedy to "fail of its essential purpose," further relying on the language of Official Note #1: "...where an apparently fair and reasonable clause because of circumstances fails in its purpose or operates to deprive either party of the substantial value of the bargain, it must give way to the general remedy provisions of this Article." Especially if you bought your SE via an educational discount, having Apple take your SE back and refuse to fix the damn fan (or casing fins, or whatever) would be a bummer (a term of art). My opinion is that this would actually be quite interesting to litigate, assuming the absence of clear and compelling precedent on the remedy limitation issue. Anyway, this will get anyone interested in the matter started. If the only people who hop is Apple's legal staff, that's fine, too... I may wish to work there one day, unless this message brands me the Ralph Nader of the computer world (THAT would be flattering, if not downright ego-inflating). APPEAL TO MY DEAR READERS: Please do not quote any or all of this letter in any forum outside of this newsgroup. Netters may personally reproduce a single hard copy of this letter for themselves. I will not accept responsibility for any damages, real or imagined, resulting from actions of others which violate the wishes I have expressed in this paragraph. I do accept responsibility for the results of posting this article in this newsgroup, but I should point out that I'm essentially judgement proof. These words are my own and in no way represent the judgements or opinions of any other person or organization. My apologies for being long-winded and legalistic, but please note that I have attempted to avoid cryptic and needless legalisms. "Thank you for your support." -- Mr. Bartles (or is it Mr. James?). -- Jeff Myers: University of Wisconsin Law School Nerds, Inc. ARPA: myers@vms.macc.wisc.edu BitNet: MYERS at WISCMACC "Some folks trust to reason, Others trust in might. I don't trust to nothin' But I know it come out right." -- Copyright 197?, The Grateful Dead End of Sub-Saga...
abr@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Adam B Rosen) (07/04/87)
Forgive me if this causes a major repeat of previously posted info, but I'm new to the new and the original article escapes me. What are the problems with the SE's fan? Yes, it's noisy, though my SE with hard disk is quieter than my friend's with two floppies. This seems a minor problem, and not one worth litigating in court. Adam B. Rosen