Legal Question in Business Law in California

International Shipment

I work for a very small company. We sell paint to a very large company in Shanghai 2-3 times a year. On their original purchase order sent by email, they wanted the goods shipped by sea. They had told us to hold of on to the shipment until further notice. They notified us on 05/27/08 to ship on 06/02/08 by danzas air. On 06/02/08 we shipped the material as usual. I shipped the paint by sea as requested on the purchase order that was with the order. The paint will not get there until July 4th now. They are saying that we have 1 of 2 options. Either pay for their line being down for the month of June or send them another 200 gallons of paint right away and pay the shipping costs for it to ship by air. Are we liable for this mistake even though their original purchase order said to ship by sea. We did not respond to the email that they sent saying to ship by air. We shipped the same way that we ship to them every time. Unfortunately, this is a 33.6 billion dollar company and we are lucky to even profit off of anything. Is there any way we can get out of this without having to pay for this mistake?


Asked on 6/15/08, 12:10 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: International Shipment

It seems to me that this was your company's mistake, so your company is the one that has to make things right. You should not expect to "get out of this without having to pay for this mistake". If you can't work out a compromise with your client, you will either have to accept one of its proposed solutions or lose the transaction -- and probably the client.

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Answered on 6/15/08, 6:23 pm


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