Riese & Muller USA office and product liability question?

[Ravi Kempaiah]

There was another thread that discussed the product liability issues regarding bikes imported from elsewhere, for example China!
https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/are-my-lbs-btn-concerns-valid.27373/

I have been following R&M brand for sometime and one thing that always puzzled me was they do not list their US office address. So, I am curious to understand how EU-based companies sell here in the US and who is bearing the product liability responsibility?
and if a company doesn't have a US-based presence, how do they pay US taxes or in an unfortunate event concerning product liability, who is held legally responsible, the US dealer here who is selling bikes?
Or do you have to go to the German court?

BTW: I do own their very expensive Delite GX Rohloff HS bike. So, I want to know the details.

My main question is: since I can't find a US-physical address on their website, who is responsible for product liability ?

The only legal information I can find that is visible for all is this. It only lists the German office.
https://www.r-m.de/en-us/imprint/

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

@Chris Nolte you are quite active on this sub-forum.
Could you please share the R&M's US address so the consumers are aware of it?

Perhaps, it would be better if R&M updates their website with this info as well.

 

[Chris Nolte]

Since your question is legal in nature I would recommend reaching out to R&M via email for a response. I don’t want to misrepresent any of this information.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

Since your question is legal in nature I would recommend reaching out to R&M via email for a response. I don’t want to misrepresent any of this information.

That is prudent of you. I asked you since you mentioned in the other thread that they have an office just for this purpose!
So, I was naturally curious as an owner of the bike.

I will update this thread once I hear back from R&M.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I cannot overemphasize, I Am Not A Lawyer. But I have been involved with international business.

You do not need a US Address to do business in the United States and be under their jurisdiction in a lawsuit. If you have legal agreements with dealers or distributors in the United States that may be enough to establish that you can be sued in a court in the United States. A lot of law firms representing foreign companies will advise those companies, if they can, to not publish the address of their United States offices, even if they have one.

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

I cannot overemphasize, I Am Not A Lawyer. But I have been involved with international business.

You do not need a US Address to do business in the United States and be under their jurisdiction in a lawsuit. If you have legal agreements with dealers or distributors in the United States that may be enough to establish that you can be sued in a court in the United States. A lot of law firms representing foreign companies will advise those companies, if they can, to not publish the address of their United States offices, even if they have one.

The question was not about if someone can do business in the US or not. I am sure US has a open business market for other country vendors to sell their products.

Product liability are country specific and are bound by the laws of that country.

I am always wary of businesses that don't have skin in the game. It is like one foot in and one foot out. Just a nudge in the wrong direction, they can escape. A lot of crowd funding companies are like that. I don't think R&M is like that, they re a large EU company and it was very puzzling for me that a large company like that, do not have a single US office or personnel who are stationed in the US permanently.

Anyway, the question was, who carries the product liability if there is no established US entity. If there is R&M USA office, I just can't find any information about R&M USA.
They have an Instagram page for marketing but no real person to talk to or any physical address.
There is nothing to hide and in fact, it should be proudly shared so that consumers can feel confident about purchasing a product.

BULLS is an EU company, they do have an office and warehouse in CA.
Stromer is an EU company, they do have an office and warehouse in CA.
BH is a EU company and they have an office+warehouse in Missouri.

 

[GregTR]

Every company doing business in the US will have to maintain a physical presence or have something called a "Registerd Agent" in the jurisdiction that they are doing business in. There are companies/law firms specifically set up to provide registered agent services in various states. Since RM is sold in multiple states and the bike you bought traversed state lines to get to you you could take the case to federal court and they would have jurisdiction over the matter.

You purchased the bike from an authorized seller so this dealer would be your initial point of contact in litigation should one be necessary. They are the ones who sold you the product and if they are not liable they would pass the liability and suit to the manufacturer and find their registered agent.

 

[GregTR]

"the registered agent for an LLC has one primary function: to be an agent for service of process, as well as receiving other important correspondence on behalf of the LLC. Additionally, a registered agent must also forward such materials to the LLC in a timely manner."

This is for LLCs but the same applies for other entities. If R-M gets served in the US via their registered agent the registered agent has a responsibility to relay that to the head entity. Whether R-M would hire counsel to represent them in US court of law or fly over and represent themselves is beyond the scope of this discussion. They can also opt to no show for a default judgment which would then be rather difficult to collect on from the US to Germany.

Having said all these, I wonder what level of liability concern R-M is really exposed to and what it is that people would try to sue a bike manufacturer over. If anything it would be for failed warranty claim and their PR would suffer far more than replacing a faulty battery.

I consider this discussion largely academic, I doubt anyone is going to take R-M to court inside or outside of the US.

 

[Gege Hughes]

"the registered agent for an LLC has one primary function: to be an agent for service of process, as well as receiving other important correspondence on behalf of the LLC. Additionally, a registered agent must also forward such materials to the LLC in a timely manner."

This is for LLCs but the same applies for other entities. If R-M gets served in the US via their registered agent the registered agent has a responsibility to relay that to the head entity. Whether R-M would hire counsel to represent them in US court of law or fly over and represent themselves is beyond the scope of this discussion. They can also opt to no show for a default judgment which would then be rather difficult to collect on from the US to Germany.

Having said all these, I wonder what level of liability concern R-M is really exposed to and what it is that people would try to sue a bike manufacturer over. If anything it would be for failed warranty claim and their PR would suffer far more than replacing a faulty battery.

I consider this discussion largely academic, I doubt anyone is going to take R-M to court inside or outside of the US.

Greg is correct that this discussion is academic. Unless you have a client who was severely injured, it wouldn’t justify a claim. Plus you still need to prove a defective product.

 

[Ebiker01]

The question was not about if someone can do business in the US or not. I am sure US has a open business market for other country vendors to sell their products.

Product liability are country specific and are bound by the laws of that country.

I am always wary of businesses that don't have skin in the game. It is like one foot in and one foot out. Just a nudge in the wrong direction, they can escape. A lot of crowd funding companies are like that. I don't think R&M is like that, they re a large EU company and it was very puzzling for me that a large company like that, do not have a single US office or personnel who are stationed in the US permanently.

Anyway, the question was, who carries the product liability if there is no established US entity. If there is R&M USA office, I just can't find any information about R&M USA.
They have an Instagram page for marketing but no real person to talk to or any physical address.
There is nothing to hide and in fact, it should be proudly shared so that consumers can feel confident about purchasing a product.

BULLS is an EU company, they do have an office and warehouse in CA.
Stromer is an EU company, they do have an office and warehouse in CA.
BH is a EU company and they have an office+warehouse in Missouri.

Great topic Ravi !
And the last 3 Brands , those are really the e bikes to get now.
I needed a new charging cable, i called tech@ Bh, took 1minute of talk and 2 days later , cable in the mail ! Same for a display stand that i broke myslef by accident. And my warranty from BH is for 5 nice worry free years .
Yamaha, Trek, Specialized, Juiced, Rad, Wallerang, Biktrix, Tern , did you hear that ??