# If a diseased rat killed your piranhas...



## ezlife (Jan 25, 2003)

In my business law class today, we were talking about product liability and I have a following scenerio (hypothetical) that I want to know what would you do:

-You own a shoal of adult Piranha Pirayas worth over $3000.00. 
-You went to Petsmart (or wherever) to buy a rat to feed your piranhas.
-the sales clerk KNEW you were going to use the rat as a feeder for your piranhas
-the rat had a disease or virus that kills your piranhas after you feed it to them
-You still have the receipt for the rat and you have a camcorder/videotape of your shoal eating this rat

Ok so all your Pirayas are dead because of this diseased/sick rat they sold you. Using the theory of product liability, is Petsmart liable for your loss of $3000.00+.

Keep in mind they knew you were going to feed this rat to your piranhas. Do you have a case xxx vs. Petsmart??


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

> -You went to Petsmart (or wherever) to buy a rat to feed your piranhas.
> -the sales clerk KNEW you were going to use the rat as a feeder for your piranhas
> -the rat had a disease or virus that kills your piranhas after you feed it to them


 No. Mammals cannot pass on disease/virus to fish.


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## RhomZilla (Feb 12, 2003)

hastatus said:


> > -You went to Petsmart (or wherever) to buy a rat to feed your piranhas.
> > -the sales clerk KNEW you were going to use the rat as a feeder for your piranhas
> > -the rat had a disease or virus that kills your piranhas after you feed it to them
> 
> ...


 WOW!!!







I never knew that!!!


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## hastatus (Jan 16, 2003)

> WOW!!! I never knew that!!!


 But the opposite is true.


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## thePACK (Jan 3, 2003)

quote:and knowing is half the battle..

thanks frank i did not know that either


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## WebHostExpert (Jan 16, 2003)

Neighter did I

MAD


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## GARGOYLE (Feb 12, 2003)

Wow! Good info, but if you could please explain why I would greatly appreciate it. Thanx


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## ezlife (Jan 25, 2003)

Thanks Frank, I too didn't know that disease cant be transfered to fish from mammals.

Ok well to change my hypothetical situation, lets say you bought a Koi or large goldfish to feed to your Pirayas and the goldfish had a disease or virus and it wiped out your tank.

Then back to the same point, can Petsmart be held liable because of product liability?


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## Forked_Tongue (Feb 20, 2003)

So your telling us or trying to that not technically a disease, the rat in question couldnt pass on tapeworm or roundworm that got so big it actaully did kill them , after a while granted but still......
As for the origninal question...I think i would go for and try to prove it, hypothetically just becasue i would want to bring the video into court and have them view it while I stand there watching the shock, awe, and disgust of the audience and bench

















































:biggrin: :biggrin:


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## maggot (Feb 17, 2003)

To make a compelling case EZlife, you would need to show that the clerk KNEW that the rat/fish was NOT suitable for the purpose stated, i.e. the clerk KNEW the rat/fish had a disease and STILL sold it to you as a feeder. However, if the store has something expressly excluding the warrant of merchantibility then you would be screwed either way. I guess this is why it is best to breed your own feeders.


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## ezlife (Jan 25, 2003)

Maggot,

So in your opinion you would have to prove they knew the large goldfish had a diesease when they sold it right?

Well, nobody goes to a Ford dealership and says "give me a defective mustang where the wheel will fall off the car as i am driving down the highway" same that you would not go to the petstore and say "give me a sick or diseased goldfish as a feeder".

When you buy merchandise from a store, you expect it to be good and working. It would be negligence on there behalf right?

I guess in the feeder fish situation, Petsmart might try to point the finger at there supplier. You see in the law books, etc. it talks about the manufacture that you would sue (like in automobile case) but with live animals, who would the manufacture be? LOL

That makes this situation kind of unique, lol.


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## maggot (Feb 17, 2003)

Note: I said to make a COMPELLING case. Otherwise, it is your word against theirs. If I was the lfs I most likly counter your claim by saying it was your water parameters (or something similar) that killed the poor p's and not the fish I sold you. And unfortunaly, depending on if the damages were small enough to take to small claims court ($3500 I believe here), you would spend more money fighting with the store it court than what you lost to begin with.


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## maggot (Feb 17, 2003)

I forgot to add, the chief difference betweet the fish and the car is that a mfg. defect is in some ways much eaiser to prove since physical failure with a wheel would tend to have a specific mode of failure.


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## DBROWN (Mar 8, 2003)

wow, good info, amazing that a disease can't be passed from mammal to fish


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## RAZORTEETH (Feb 6, 2003)

u must remember that in the wild these fish eat diseased and wounded mammals,fish etc etc so no i would not be worried about it at all now maybe a fish ?? got me but mammals definately no


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## piranha 13 (Feb 16, 2003)

I never knew that either.


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## tyourkie66 (Mar 13, 2003)

well i learned something today


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