The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled that a car distributor may bear liability for product defects on an equal footing with the manufacturer. This applies in situations where the distributor’s name or trademark is sufficiently similar to that of the actual manufacturer, which creats consumer’s trust to car distributor.

 

A customer purchased a Ford vehicle from the Italian distributor Stracciari SpA. The car had been manufactured by the German company Ford WAG and delivered by Ford Italia, the official distributor of the brand’s vehicles. During an accident, the airbag failed to deploy, prompting the customer to file a claim for damages against Stracciari and Ford Italia, asserting that the vehicle’s defect had endangered his life.

 

Ford Italia defended itself by arguing that it merely acted as an intermediary and could not be regarded as a „producer” within the meaning of Directive 85/374/EEC, since it had not participated in the manufacturing process and had not affixed any identifying mark of its own on the product.

 

The CJEU held that if a distributor benefits from the reputation of the producer, it may be held liable as if it were the producer even if it did not participate in the manufacturing process. What matters is whether the distributor’s name or sign is similar to that used by the actual manufacturer. A consumer, seeing such markings, may reasonably believe that the entity in question assumes responsibility for the quality and safety of the product.

 

The Court emphasized that the objective of Directive 85/374/EEC is to protect consumers, and that a broad interpretation of the term “producer” facilitates the pursuit of compensation claims. Accordingly, a distributor that uses markings similar to those of the producer and contributes to building a perception of reliability cannot avoid its liability.

 

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Our law firm is experienced in corporate law and litigation, with experience stemming from, among other things, serving as a manager in companies within the Bank Zachodni WBK S.A. group (currently Santander Bank Polska S.A.) and serving as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of a publicly traded company.

 

This article has its text in Polish.