SVKM's NMIMS Kirit P.

Mehta School of Law, Mumbai

Novice Moot Court Competition, 2022-2023

Moot Proposition

1. “XEEMEE” was a Kchinese Mobile Company who launched a new mobile “XM1” in
Kchina on 1st July 2018. XM1 was an android phone based on the open license of “Goggle”
operating system provided by a company in USSA. Within months of its launch, it became
a very popular phone among the masses due to its low cost and higher performance.
XEEMEE started branching out in 2019, by taking its products to the global level for a
better platform to sell its products to masses at a large scale. In a similar effort, it created
an Indianan subsidiary “XEEMEE Indiana” for importing “XM1” products from Kchina
and established a supply chain with distribution and sale in Indiana. XEEMEE Indiana
established a head office in Mumbai and started operating its business of distribution, sale
and services of XM1 from their onwards.

2. Mr. Kirat Lal was a citizen of Indiana, living in Dehli. He used to work in a power company
having branches all over the country. For his day to day use and official work, he decided
to purchase a budget phone where after due research he came across XM1 model at a price
of Rs. 10,000 with a discount of an additional Rs. 1,000 on credit card purchase. Thus, on
1st December, 2019 he purchased an XM1 model at a final price of Rs. 9,000 from a third-
party online retailer “Flapkart”. Under the standard sale-purchase agreement and terms of
warranty with “XEEMEE Indiana”, it was stated that ‘any dispute or claim regarding the
products or services of XEEMEE, jurisdiction of Mumbai courts and tribunals will be
applicable’.

3. Within months of its purchase Mr. Kirat Lal started facing heating issues in his XM1 phone,
especially during long calls and while charging the mobile phone. The heating issues
further increased after a new android update was rolled out in the month of April, 2020.
The same issue was reported by people around the world using XM1 phone, but
XEEMMEE issued a statement directing ‘users to not overcharge their phone by keeping
it in a charging state overnight as 2-3 hours are sufficient to fully charge the phone’. One
 day when he was making a call to an old friend, he started experiencing extreme
temperature over his right ear, causing a slight ringing sensation in his hearing which
eventually subsided in an hour. He made a call to the customer care of XEEMEE Indiana,
complaining about the heating problem in his XM1 phone, whereof it was suggested to him
to bring his mobile phone to the nearest service center for further check-up and directions
to not overcharge the phone by keeping it in a charging state overnight as 2-3 hours are
sufficient to fully charge the phone. Mr. Kirat Lal, due to his busy schedule, couldn’t bring
the phone to the service center for any check-up and kept using the phone in the same state.

4. On 3rd May, 2020 Mr. Kirat Lal received his transfer order where he was supposed to shift
and report to his new office in Hyderbad within a week’s time. He started packing his
luggage the very same day as he didn’t have time to settle down at a new place in such a
short span. On the night of 6th May, 2020, he came back from his office at 10 pm, had his
dinner and slept immediately after leaving his mobile phone to charge. When he removed
his phone from charging in the morning, he noticed that the phone was heating more than
usual. He set his phone aside and started dressing up for his office. While preparing
breakfast he received a call from his sister. Within a minute or two of answering the phone
call, the phone started smoking out and busted in his hand. This caused severe burns on his
right hand and right ear, and left an extreme ringing sensation in his hearing. He
immediately went to a doctor for first aid where the doctor declared that the burns on his
right hand and right ear are recoverable, but he has lost hearing in his right ear permanently.

5. Mr. Kirat Lal was discharged from the hospital on 9th May, 2020 after due recovery, except
for the permanent loss of hearing in his right ear. Immediately after discharge, he took his
luggage in haste from his house as he had to report to the Hyderbad office on 10th May,
2020 at any cost. After settling down at the new place he filed a case in the Civil Court of
Hyderbad for the Tort of Negligence and under Consumer Protection Act 2019, against
“XEEMEE”, “XEEMEE Indiana” and “Goggle”. He raised the ground that his injuries and
disability of hearing is attributable to faulty products made by XEEMEE and XEEMEE
Indiana, which were not replaced or rectified even after the problem had been reported by
masses. Further the problem was aggravated after the new update roll-out by Goggle
contributing to the final incident. He claimed a compensation of 50 Lakh for serious
physical injury, mental agony to him personally and it’s impact on his affairs while he was
shifting due to the transfer.
6. XEEMEE Indiana in its reply stated that the case is not maintainable in the present civil
court as this is not a case of torts of negligence, rather a pure consumer complaint.
XEEMEE further stated that as per the terms of contract all disputes fall within the
jurisdiction of the Mumbai Courts, and the incident occurred in Dehli, thus the Hyderbad
Court has no jurisdiction to try the case. They also pointed out that the incident is
attributable to the fault of Mr. Kirat Lal as he failed to follow the instructions of the
company by failing to bring his phone for check-up at the service center and breaching the
direction of overcharging XM1, by charging it overnight. Goggle also submitted that it
should not be made a party to the present case as it neither manufactures the XM1 nor its
battery, rather it only provides an open license software to companies for their android
phones.

7. Decide the case by framing appropriate issues and arguments from both sides.

Note:
1. The laws of Indiana are in pari materia to the laws of India.
2. Teams are free to frame issues as per their wisdom, but such issues should be common
for both the sides.