When author Gini Graham Scott hoped to drive to Las Vegas to meet the director of her first feature film, SUICIDE PARTY: SAVE DAVE, to be safe, she took her 22-year old Toyota station wagon with 144,000 miles in to an auto repair shop for an inspection. Would it be safe to drive to make the 500 mile trip from the San Francisco Bay Area, she asked the manager?  When the manager said the car should be fine, she had the fan and air conditioning system fixed, knowing it would be hot in Las Vegas, rather than flying and renting a car.

      But the car wasn't safe.  Instead, after only 3 days and 50 more miles, the car died, the victim of the radiator system felled by heat stroke, and even if she had that fixed, a mechanic warned there was a 50-50 chance the gasket and engine could blow.  So finally after spending over 8 hours weighing the cost of more repairs and a potentially deadly and costly breakdown in the middle of the 250 mile Mojave Desert, Scott ended up buying a new Toyota she couldn't really afford with a small down payment and 84 month loan.  But when she called the auto repair shop, asking for only a reimbursement for the cost of the repairs to the air conditioner, which she wouldn't have repaired if the manager hadn't told her the car would be safe, the owner of the repair service said no. He not only wouldn't take any responsibility for the manager assurances, but he insulted her for even thinking the manager should be responsible for her car later breaking down.  The owner even dared her to take him to court and threatened to seek the cost of his legal expenses if she did, though lawyers aren't allowed in small claims court.

      But instead of the law courts, Scott has taken her case to the media and the court of public opinion, starting with a series of articles inspired by what happened.  Besides posting her review of the auto repair company with a one star rating on Yelp, she has begun a series of articles to warn individuals about problems with auto repair companies. The first of these: "A Warning about Warnings" http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gini-graham-scott/avoiding-auto-repair-scams_b_5750274.html  published on Huffington Post, where Scott is a regular columnist, discusses how professionals contacted for advice as experts are legally required in many situations to give a fair warning.  And if they don't, they might be responsible to some degree should things go wrong, because a consumer or client didn't get that waning. 

        In her case, if the owner and manager doubted the ability of an old car to make such a trip, the manager could be responsible to warn her of the risk, since she had told him that her reason for the inspection was to be sure her car was safe for the long drive, and she only had the air conditioning system repaired to drive there; otherwise she would have flown and there would have been no car breakdown from the heat.  And as Scott points out in her "Warning about Warnings" article, there is a duty to warn in many fields, whether as a matter of ethical practice or a legal requirement. 

           For example, after a doctor examines a patient and identifies certain medical conditions, the doctor will not only advise the patient about what to do, including prescribing certain medicines, but should warn the patient about not engaging in certain activities, such as advising a patient with a heart condition not to engage in strenuous activities.  In real estate sales, sellers and agents are required to warn buyers of serious problems in the house that aren't obvious and affect the house's value, such as termites and leaks in a sewer line; and if there is no warning that is considered misrepresentation, and if the problem in the house is later found out, the buyer could back out of the sale or sue for damages.  Likewise, manufacturers have a duty to warn about potential dangers resulting from using the product and if without that warning, they can incur significant fines from government agencies, get bad publicity, be liable for compensatory and punitive damages, and experienced decreased goodwill and sales.

         As the article concludes, given these other situations where a warning is ethically or legally required or is a matter of regular practice, it would seem that a manager or owner would have a duty to warn, as well as recommend the appropriate services to fix a car. Then, without that warning, he or she has some responsibility for what happens when things go wrong as a result, which might minimally be reimbursing a client for repairs. Plus there might be damages for additional repairs, the time spent in making those repairs, or even some contribution to the cost of additional travel or the purchase of a new car, due to a failure to warn. 

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Gini Graham Scott, PhD, writes frequently about social trends and everyday life. She is the author of over 50 books with major publishers and has published 30 books through her company Changemakers Publishing and Writing. She writes books and proposals for clients and has written and produced over 50 short videos through Changemakers Productions and is a partner in a service that connects writers to publishers, agents, and the film industry – The Publishing Connection (www.thepublishingconnection.com) .  Her latest books include: TRANSFORMATION: HOW NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, BUSINESS AND SOCIETY ARE CHANGING YOUR LIFE and THE BATTLE AGAINST INTERNET BOOK PIRACY