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6 • AUGUST 2012 • WORLD FENCE NEWS TuffPrintTM CoverSports windscreens & Recent fence case raises legal points Misrepresenting products can lead to serious liability issues for contractors TULSA, Okla. — Ameristar Fence Products announced that it was This will change the way you build fences. recently involved in a situation be- tween one of its contractor customers and an end user that is significant enough that it issued an alert to its en- tire customer base so that the same problem may be avoided in the future. According to Ameristar, the issue FenceMate® Windscreens and Privacy Screens ® corrugated , our exclusive protection padding for SafeFoam® For quotes and specials visit www.CoverSports.com/WFN We make covers for all athletic surfaces. No compressors. No hoses. No hassle. Keep Up With The Misadventures Of Pete & Jake Each Month in World Fence News! The revolutionary Redi Driver runs on gasoline using a 4-stroke Honda engine. At 1720 bpm it's as powerful as a pneumatic post driver but uses less time, money & worker fatigue. So change the way you build fences. Call 702-293-3222 or visit www.RediDriver.com. involves the use of non-Ameristar posts and brackets by a fence installer. The installer was contracted to install 400 feet of Ameristar's Montage Res- idential Ornamental Steel Fence Sys- tem along the entrance of a private home. Approximately seven months later, corrosion began to appear in multiple locations along the fence line. Ameristar launched the process to administer a warranty claim and dis- patched a field representative to in- spect the jobsite and retrieve a sample piece of the material in question. Dur- ing the inspection, it was discovered and proven that the installer had sub- stituted "knockoff" posts as well as panel brackets on this specific instal- lation. As a result, all liability for this claim fell on the installer, as the use of non-Ameristar components voids all Ameristar warranties, the manufac- turer noted. The end user filed a charge of false representation – commonly termed "bait and switch" – against the installer on the basis that they were presented Ameristar literature and warranty registration, given hand car- ried samples, etc. and were sold on the quality of the Ameristar product. "False representation in many states carries a felony charge with sub- stantial financial implications as well as potential jail time," said Mike El- more, product manager for the Mon- tage line, adding that at the time the company issued the letter, the case was awaiting disposition in the courts. "This is an unfortunate situation for everyone that could and should have been avoided," Elmore said. "The installer now faces legal bills, poten- tial fines, replacement of the material and other costs that will be well in ex- cess of the money they saved by sub- stituting Ameristar components. "As unfortunate as it is, we at Ameristar fully support both the end user and the courts in this matter. The undisclosed use of lesser quality com- ponents is detrimental to all of us and is a black eye for the industry as a whole," he stated. "All of us, as man- ufacturers, have worked too long and hard to build our brands only to have those who would seek to profit from deception continue to prosper."