Justin Baxter was asked about businesses’ liability for advice they give to consumers, when the businesses hold themselves out as experts. Laura Gunderson of the Oregonian sought the input from Justin Baxter of Baxter & Baxter, LLP:
Justin Baxter, a consumer attorney with the Portland firm Baxter & Baxter, heard the same story and didn’t hesitate with an answer.
“If someone holds themselves out as an expert or as qualified to give advice then they are bound by that advice,” he said. Of course, he added, consumers are responsible for what they — or their cars — consume, yet that responsibility expands when we seek out expert advice.
Baxter sees it as a continuum. At one end there’s an expert such as an ASE-certified mechanic and the other, he said, even a Fred Meyer clerk who offers similar fluid advice.
“If a business’s marketing strategy is ‘You can trust us,’” he said, “then they should be held to the standard that they created for themselves.”
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