Local Distributors At Risk Over Supplier Provided Promotional Material

In Issue 6, we reported two cases where local distributors were held liable for information provided by suppliers (see the Designer Direct and Emerald Ocean Distributors cases). On 11 December, the Full Court in South Australia made a similar finding concerning Hanna Wash's brochures promoting its Millennium washer. This is a further warning to local distributors not to blithely accept material provided by suppliers. The Court accepted that Hanna Wash "... knew very little detail about the Millennium washer". The Court nevertheless held Hanna Wash liable because the statements in the supplier's brochure did not require a detailed knowledge of the product.