China's newest export: lawsuits

Fortune Magazine) -- Not since exploding Ford Pintos in the 1970s has there been as incendiary a catalyst for recalls as China's recent spate of consumer product scares. Since March a cluster of incidents involving potentially deadly, defective, or contaminated products imported from China - pet food, toys, tires, toothpaste, cough syrup, shrimp - has awakened both that country and the United States to a latent crisis.
The larger question is just who is legally responsible when a chemical used in antifreeze ends up in a tube of toothpaste. U.S. companies are starting to find out as the lawsuits roll in that the tainted ingredients may come from China, but the liability is here.made in china
U.S. regulators - the FDA, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - generally hold U.S. importers responsible for ensuring that foreign-made products meet American safety standards.
But often the importer doesn't have nearly the wherewithal to do so. Foreign Tire Sales (FTS), a 16- employee, family-owned business that operates from a basement in Union, N.J., is now hurtling toward bankruptcy as it begins a recall of 450,000 Chinese-made tires at a projected cost of $90 million. As things stand, when the money runs out, the recall will end.
In May, FTS was sued in state court in Philadelphia after its tires allegedly caused an accident last year in which two passengers were killed and one severely brain damaged. FTS has sued the manufacturer, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. Ltd. (HZ), in federal court in Newark, and the victims' families have sued HZ in state court in Philadelphia. So far, HZ has responded to neither action, and it has angrily denied any defect. Even if the U.S. plaintiffs win default judgments against HZ, it's unclear whether they will be able to enforce them anywhere.Import from china
Menu Foods, the Ontario petfood maker whose China-sourced, melamine-laced gluten poisoned dozens of brands of American pet food, already faces more than 100 class-action suits. In its case, the big-name brands and retailers that it supplies - Procter & Gamble (Charts, Fortune 500), Wal-Mart (Charts, Fortune 500), Safeway (Charts, Fortune 500), Kroger (Charts, Fortune 500) - are showing up as defendants too, and could become the crucial deep pockets if Menu Foods runs out of insurance coverage. San Francisco plaintiffs lawyer William Audet explains, "For most states there's a duty on the seller to distribute a product that doesn't have poison in it." Indeed, with few exceptions, the retailers are typically on the hook, says Sheila Birnbaum, head of product-liability defense at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
They can seek indemnification from their Chinese exporters, but that will be their problem. (No American lawyer interviewed for this article was contemplating suing Chinese entities in Chinese courts, where tiny damage awards and frequently hostile local judges often make litigation pointless.) One way or another, if they want to stay in business, Chinese exporters will have to become accountable for injuries to U.S. consumers and businesses.
"If China wants to stay in the world market as a player, it's going to have to stand behind the products its companies manufacture," Birnbaum says. That means stronger regulation, more legal accountability - and maybe even more Chinese personal-injury lawyersExport from china

New 7 wonders to be unveiled

GENEVA, Switzerland - The Great Wall of China, the Colosseum in Rome and Peru's Machu Picchu are leading contenders to be among the new seven wonders of the world, as a massive poll draws to a close with votes already cast by more than 90 million people, organizers say. As the 8 p.m. EDT Friday voting deadline approaches, the rankings can still change. Also in the top 10 are the Acropolis in Greece, Chichen Itza pyramid in Mexico, Eiffel Tower in Paris, Easter Island, Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Taj Mahal in India and Jordan's ancient city of Petra.
The winners will be announced on Saturday in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Great Pyramids of Giza are the only surviving structures from the traditional list of seven wonders of the ancient world. That list was derived from lists of marvels compiled by ancient Greek observers, the best known being Antipater of Sidon, a writer in the 2nd century B.C.
The pyramids have been assured of keeping their status in addition to the new seven wonders after indignant Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace they had to compete for a spot.
The final round of the competition narrowed the field to 20 candidates, and people from every country in the world voted by Internet or phone, said the group organizing the ballot.
"It's so exciting," said Tia B. Viering, spokeswoman for the "New 7 Wonders of the World" campaign. "There are not many things that could bring the world together like global culture ... this is really something that every single person in the world can be interested in."
"This is all about bringing people together, to appreciate each other ... to celebrate diversity," Viering said.
The Colosseum, the Great Wall, Machu Picchu, Taj Mahal and Petra have been among the leaders since January, while the Acropolis and Christ the Redeemer statue made their way up from the middle of the field to the top level, according to latest tallies.
The Statue of Liberty and Sydney Opera House have been sitting in the bottom 10 since the start. Also faring poorly are Cambodia's Angkor Wat temple complex, Russia's Kremlin building and St. Basil's Cathedral, Britain's Stonehenge and the city of Timbuktu in Mali.
The ancient city of Petra in southwestern Jordan — famous for its water tunnels and stone structures carved in the rock — jumped from the middle of the pack to the top seven in January. That was largely thanks to campaigning by the Jordanian royal family and thousands of Jordanians voting by text message over their mobile phones, Viering said.
A surge in voting from the United States, Canada and Europe in recent weeks helped those regions catch up with Latin America and Asia to make the ballot truly global, Viering said.
The campaign was begun in 1999 by Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber, with almost 200 nominations from around the world. The list of candidates was narrowed down to 21 by the start of 2006, then Giza was taken out of the running when it was given an automatic spot. Since organizers started a tour to each site last September, the competition has been heating up.gas detector foosball table runescape money
There is no foolproof way to prevent people from voting more than once for their favorite wonder, but most of the votes are cast by Internet in a system that registers each participant's e-mail address to discourage people from voting twice, Viering said.
"We have a lot of kids (voting) and that trend is continuing ... but we have votes really from every part of the population," she added.World of Warcraft Gold world of warcraft power leveling
The original list of wonders were concentrated in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Six of them no longer exist: the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympia, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Pharos lighthouse off Alexandria.
After the Egyptian protest, the organizers of the campaign set the pyramids above the competition.Chanel wow gold wow powerleveling
"We absolutely had no problem with this," Viering said. As of Saturday, there will be eight world wonders including the Pyramids of Giza, she said.
Choosing world wonders has been a fascination over the centuries. The U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, keeps updating its list of World Heritage Sites, which now totals 851 places. The agency, however, is not involved in the New 7 Wonders project. wow lvl china travel WOW Gold
Weber's Switzerland-based foundation aims to promote cultural diversity by supporting, preserving and restoring monuments. It relies on private donations and revenue from selling broadcasting rights.