Assignment task:
Siwek took his new Buick to his dealer for minor repairs. While the car was in the dealer's repair shop, the dealer informed Siwek that the car was equipped with a Chevrolet engine. The standard engine for a car of the model and year in question was a 2.4 litre 4-cylinder manufactured by the Buick division of General Motors. Before the introduction of the year's models, the manufacturer determined that there would not be enough engines built to equip all the Buick models manufactured. For this reason, it was decided to install Chevrolet engines in some Buick cars without disclosing the practice to the buyers. Siwek complained to the Illinois attorney general, who filed a class-action suit against General Motors charging that GM deceived consumers by not informing them of the engine switch. This case presents both ethical and legal principles. (i) Please discuss the principles that you think are relevant in this case. (ii) Does New York have any laws addressing deceptive consumer practices? If so, please cite to the specific laws and summarize them, and (iii) please discuss what, if anything, you would do if you were General Motors and had to defend this case to keep your business alive. In addition to the New York law, be sure to use the information from the assigned reading in the ABA Guide to Consumer Law to support your answers.