Dennis and Claudia were partners who operated a retail store. They agreed to end the partnership. Dennis agreed to stay at the store and oversee the going-out-of-business sale. Claudia agreed to deal with the accountants and other matters not directly related to the hands-on operation of running the store. Claudia received notice that the store's liability policy would expire on July 1. She decided not to renew the policy and let it lapse. The going-out-of-business sale would not be completed until August 1. In July, a customer slipped and fell in the store. When Dennis learned that Claudia had allowed the liability policy to lapse, he was very upset and claimed he should not be liable for the customer's injury. Is Dennis liable to the customer

in 2001, dell computer became the world’s largest personal computer vendor, continuing to

gain market share and post profits in an industry struggling with slumping sales and billions of

dollars in losses. dell sells 90% of its pcs directly to the final customer, largely bypassing the

reseller channel that accounts for most of the world’s pc sales. this direct customer relationship

is the key to dell’s business model, and provides distinct advantages over the indirect sales

model. dell’s direct relationship with the customer allows it to tailor its offerings to customer

needs, offer add-on products and services, and use the internet to offer a variety of customer

services. in addition, dell’s pcs are built to customers’ specifications upon receipt of an order,

giving dell additional advantages over indirect pc vendors who must try to forecast demand and

ship products based on those forecasts. dell’s direct sales and build-to-order model has achieved

superior performance in the pc industry in terms of inventory turnover, reduced overhead, cash

conversion, and return on investment (kraemer, et al., 2000).

explanation: