Reliability and quality data in court

The author presents the types of quality assurance data and information that are frequently used in the courtroom for litigation involving contract disagreements between buyer and seller (as well as personal injuries of the user or bystander versus all of the sellers and manufacturers) or arguments between the manufacturer of an item and a subsequent manufacturer who incorporates the item, over the damage caused by the inoperability or premature failure of the initial product. The author discusses the importance of these types of data, how they are to be recorded, where they are supposed to be recorded, the importance of configuration management (not only of military but of commercial products), cross referencing dates, the use of serial numbers, and the use of model designations with and without modification due to internal changes not affecting form, fit, or function