Triad Group is wrong on all levels , they knowing still, made and shipped product they knew could harm or kill somebody , and every employee that knew the risk of the products should be charged and locked up.

Triad Group is wrong on 99% of the levels, but in this case if the product in question was not affected by the contamination and was not part of the lawsuit then there is no breach of agreement and Vi-Jon has to pay. Also I'm not 100% certain on this, but has the contamination source been definitively proven in court? The article says "allegedly" quite a bit. We may not like it, but innocent until proven guilty is still the law of the land around here.

Unless Vi-Jon returned the products that were already delivered, they should be forced to pay for them. There is no evidence that these products were contaminated in any way and are not involved in the current charges. Vi-Jon can not just say we are not paying you for this product because of problems with other products you make. As for cancelling the contract for future deliveries, Vi-Jon probably has a good case. Even if the products in question were not part of the recall, the damage to Triad's reputation would have serious effects on the marketability of it's other products. This would seem to qualify as a material change in the conditions under which the contract was signed and be valid cause for cancelling to contract.

What is not said in this article is if Vi-Jon asked for return instructions and did not receive them. They would not just put the stuff to be returned on the truck without the proper paper work. Triad Group has a responsibility to make it all right. If Vi-Jon is not comfortable in selling the items, they have every right and responsibility to refuse shipment and cancel all orders. The government closed them down anyways, how can Triad Group be honoring those orders in the first place?

I disagree that they should have to pay for the product unless they continued to use and sell the wipes. If they disposed of the wipes because of fears of contamination then they should not have to pay. It is seldom that the Government orders the closure of a business so one can only assume that the products from Triad Group, specifically the wipes were so contaminated that the machinery was even infected. That kind of infection can and does easily spread throughout a plant and into other product lines. I can only think of two other products that were banned similarly. One was a poultry farm where even the ground had become contaminated and the other was the case of Mad Cow Disease where whole herds were exterminated. As for Triad Group, they have a massive liability because of poor quality control and this should be a wake up call for anyone in the production of any product but especially the medical industry That by the way is what is wrong with health care, it has become an industry, but that's another story.

Appears like you would be willing to buy and use these products so this is your opportunity to get a lot of them very cheaply from Vi-Jon......good luck with your product choice

So the wipes that they sent were not recalled or contaminated?

That's a fairly easy case.

The contract was not breached by Tri-ad, but by Vi-Jon.

If the product itself was not defective, then you have to pay for it. If they had enough in stock to send the other units as per the contract, you have to buy those too.

Why do people seem to think contracts are breakable? Same people think the Constitution is not law.

There are plenty of instances when a company recalled one product, but still sold other products.

Let's put this in perspective - when there was tainted Tylenol, you couldn't just not pay for all the other products they make just because of the fact that they had to stop making Tylenol for a while.

Since Vi-Jon is breaking the contract, clearly there is no clause about not having to pay if Triad has other products recalled, or if their facilities get temporarily shut down.

If Vi-Jon wanted those terms, they should have put them into the contract that they signed.

Otherwise, pay up!

Testing every individual wipe is ridiculous, and it was found in 2 of their product lines that the company IGNORED FDA regulations and advice while making their product. So this distributor should be FORCED to try and sell product they believe is contaminated and not properly handled? THEN they should be FORCED to buy MORE? This producer is shut down by the government for producing DANGEROUS products, and the producer can't even produce them anymore so they either are selling possibly contaminated product from their warehouse (produced with old defunct production methods they SHOULDN'T be using) or are going to delay the order by large amounts.

Anyway, Triad DESERVES this and MORE, I'm not buying a single triad product now.

Also, if this 3rd product (thats right 2 separate products have been found to be infected by different bacteria from triad) is contaminated and someone ELSE dies, the lawsuit INCLUDES the distributor. So the distributor is being forced into a poor legal situation in which they could lose out on serious damages because some producer decided to value $ over life.

Obviously a lot of lawyers or wanna be lawyers are weighing in on this thread with advice about contractual obligations. I'm not one of them, but it seems to me that once a company has been found to be using dangerously unsafe practices in the production of medical products all bets are off. How can they say, 'Yeah those products are tainted, but the ones we sold to you are not.'? That's ludicrous. Lawyers may argue that the customer, vendor, or distributor should pay for goods not proven to be contaminated, but how can they tell? Should they continue to sell them and wait for someone else to die? I think in this case Vi-jon has a legitimate right to return everything, cancel all future orders and refuse to pay. Triad must suffer the consequences of dangerously shoddy production practices even if some of their goods turn out not to be tainted.

Yeah, I was very confused at first, but apparently the editor who wrote the title doesn't know a vendor from a customer.

EDITOR: FIX THIS TITLE!

I thought the same but I'm guessing (like assuming) that from our (customer) perspective it would be a vendor to vendor sale. But the title is very misleading.

I would even say the Vi-jon isn't a vendor at all but a distributor. Especially after seeing their mission statement on their web site:

http://www.vijon.com/

Our Mission

Vi-Jon strives to keep its customers in stock at all times by accurately anticipating all of their requirements, insuring every order arrives on time and 100% complete. Vi-Jon offers products at substantial cost savings to customers and consumers.

Sure sounds like a distributor to me.

In this instance, I think that Vi-Jon is the "customer" and Triad is the "vendor" . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_%28supply_chain%29

The problem with referring to Vi-Jon as the "vendor" is that it suggests Vi-Jon is selling a Triad product, when the reverse is the case, since Vi-Jon is selling its custom designed product that was manufactured in part but not completely by Triad, since Vi-Jon supplied the Germ-X solution and hired Triad to do the custom manufacturing and packaging of the Germ-X wipes, which from the perspective of Triad makes Vi-Jon its "customer" not its "vendor" . . .

Using "vendor" as a replacement for "Vi-Jon" is a bit misleading, and I think that using "customer" as a replacement for "Vi-Jon" is more accurate and less confusing, which has the additional advantage of being more sensational, since it is a bit like Cargill attempting to sue customers for refusing to pay for Cargill ground turkey that reasonably was expected to be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria, so I am voting with Roger, Gary, and Julie on this one, for sure . . .

For sure! :)

The more disturbing aspect of the lawsuit is that it tends strongly to suggest that Triad simply does not "get it" with respect to the overall problem, which in turn strongly suggests that the FDA et al. need to do everything possible to ensure either (a) that Triad clearly and indisputably "gets it" or (b) that Triad is never allowed to manufacture medical products again, where for reference "it" is the fact that Triad allowed its manufacturing facilities to become contaminated and did nothing to correct the contamination even when confronted in the most extreme ways available to the FDA et al., which included closing its manufacturing facilities, pulling Triad's licenses, and having U. S. Marshals seize the contaminated products . . .

If a company does not "get it" after all that happens, it is unlikely that the company ever will "get it", which is more than sufficient reason to prohibit the company from manufacturing medical products forever, really . . .

Really! :-o

"Distributer or vendor, or customer" does not make a difference. Triad SOLD products that were "not what the accepting company or person ordered" making those products eligible for return and full payment. "Goods ORDERED AND NOT DELIVERED" WHILE TRIAD was under investigation AND federal dictate to STOP production can and should be moot. Triad can be sued because THEY did not honor a contract for delivering promised merchandise. Triad is in my opinion a crap company and it's management incarcerated for fraud. Cutting corners for profit causing deaths is just as terrible as shooting someone.

Mike, The product that the customer had a contract for was not affected/tainted. It was a different product from the vendor.

"There is no evidence of any such contamination affecting any such Germ-X products," the lawsuit contends.

Vi-Jon officials are seeking dismissal of the suit, claiming that the recalled products were similar enough to Germ-X to cause worry after a massive public recall and that the company had a right to halt its orders.

And the customer (vi-jon) failed to pay for what was already delivered (and I'm guessing used)

In addition, Vi-Jon refused to pay Triad nearly $145,000 for products already delivered, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Wisconsin.

Vi-jon needs to pay the $145,000, all legal fees, and then have the contract terminated.

Agreed. They don't have to take delivery of any more product, but they should pay for what they've received, or make arrangements to return it.

Julie-401527 - Mike, The product that the customer had a contract for was not affected/tainted. It was a different product from the vendor.

The new product may not be tainted but the brand name sure is. Who's going to buy anything with that brand name ever again.

fire-them-all, Correct and that's their option. But as I stated, they still owe for what they took delivery of. They should also be liable for both party legal fees since they were defiantly is the wrong by not paying for service delivered.

From the article, it seems that vi-jon is just trying to get out of paying for bill.

You've got it right, Fire. Once the brand name became tainted, all theri product, new and old, became unsellable.

Fire has got it absolutely right. The company name is tainted. The article does NOT say what happened to the product. Perhaps Vi-Jon attempted to return the product and met deaf ears at Triad. I bet the product is still at Vi-Jon's warehouse awaiting paper work to return it.

In the medical world, recalls are a part of doing business. Medications, devices, solutions, you name it are recalled daily--mostly treating patients that are already sick or have weakened immune systems. Manufacturing dates and lot numbers are important.

If Triad sold product known to be contaminated, they should go DOWN. If Vi-Jon's order wasn't contaminated, they should pay for what they received and the contract they have with Triad would cover any out clause. No doubt it comes down to certain batches of a product, or more then one.

Radical luck, or just hating Wisconsin that much spared you from bad news.

I'm glad they shut them down for the time being, if their product is indeed filled with harmful bacteria cause leathal health problems. So many new mothers and families use these products on a daily basis. Hopefully there will be no more death caused from this.

Just a thought here, if they shut them down, is it not possible there is more to this story than has been said or reported on? Must be a filthy place to begin with with few or no product safety policies being followed.

Just don't wipe your butt with one of them...

The product they ordered is not a "known" defective product. It is not the same product as the tainted wipes. This is a different product.

I say if they want to cancel the contract, by all means, but they pay for what they got, or they return it. Return it, get a refund. If they sold it to another customer, they have no right to not pay the vendor for it. If they threw them out because of contamination fears, I can see where they shouldn't have to pay for them. It all depends on what Vi-Jon did with them.

You do know there were recalls on lube, months ago, right?!

If Vi-Jon sold them, they should contact their customers to get them returned for refund, then in turn get a refund when they return them to Triad + handling fees. What is not returned, sure, pay for that but as I said earlier, is Triad refusing to take back the product? Seems to me the value of goods already shipped is a small amount in the scheme of things. Vi-Jon does not trust Triad's products anymore. The WHOLE place was shut down. That puts a huge taint on Triad's name.

I don't blame them for wanting to break the contract with Triad. Their name has been tainted, and the quality of their products is in question.

But if Vi-Jon sold the product that they refuse to pay for, it's not right. If they threw it away, or returned it, or even attempted to return it (and Triad refused it), I'd completely understand not paying for it.

I dunno, I just feel like junk is junk. I mean, what the hell is Triad gonna do with infected product, besides burn it?

And at least levy a HUGE fine and jail sentence on the CEO.

Yes. JoNel (is she from krypton?) should read the previous msnbc articles on this subject. Bacillus cereus are not "rare bacteria". A lab could find it in nearly any spoonful of soil. Unfortunately, the spores are very hardy and cannot be destroyed by alcohol at room temperature.

Dudes! You are so spanked! :D