Products Liability

Question 1

When is strict product liability invoked?

Answer 1

when a defective product, for which an appropriate defendant is responsible, injures an appropriate plaintiff

Question 2

Elements of strict product liability

Answer 2

1. Proper plaintiff
2. Proper defendant
3. Proper context
4. Defect
5. Cause-in-fact
6. Proximate cause
7. Damages
8. Strict product liablity defenses

Question 3

Who is a proper plaintiff for strict product liability?

Answer 3

any plaintiff injured while using a defective product may recover damages from an appropriate defendant

Question 4

Who is a proper defendant?

Answer 4

Anyone in the marketing chain and in the business of dealing with this product

Question 5

What is the proper context for strict products liability?

Answer 5

Product must predominate

Question 6

Types of defects

Answer 6

1. Manufacturing
2. Design
3. Warning

Question 7

Manufacturing Defect

Answer 7

A product manufactured in a form other than the manufacturer intended contains a manufacturing defect

Question 8

Design Defect

Answer 8

A product manufactured as the manufacturer intended, but that still presents a danger of personal injury or property damage to a plaintiff, suffers from a design defect

Question 9

Consumer Expectation Test

Answer 9

• a product is in an unreasonably dangerous defective condition when it is more dangerous than would be contemplated by the ordinary consumer who purchases it, with the ordinary knowledge common to the community as to its characteristics.
• a product is dangerously defective if a reasonably foreseeable purchaser would not have expected it to present the danger that resulted in his injury

Question 10

Danger-Utility Test

Answer 10

A product is defective if a jury determines that the danger the product threatends outweigns its utility to society

Question 11

Hindsight-Negligence Test

Answer 11

• a product is defective if a reasonable person, knowing of the danger it presented, would not have placed it in the stream of commerce

Question 12

What products are exempt from design defectiveness?

Answer 12

Products with extraordinary social alternatives

Example: Vaccines, prescription drugs

Question 13

Warning Defect

(Absence of Warning)

Answer 13

1. Defendant’s failure to warn plaintiff that a product presents a threat of personal injury or property damage

Question 14

Warning Defect

Plaintiff must establish so that strict liability may be imposed?

Answer 14

• Manufacturer knew or reasonably should have known
• Of a danger presented by the product; and
• failed to take precautions that a reasonable person would have
• To adequately warn of that danger

Question 15

Cause-In-Fact

Answer 15

Plaintiff must show that the injury was caused by the defect

by proving that the defect was a substantial factor in bringing about the injury

Question 16

Proximate Cause

Answer 16

• negligent handling of a product by a third party after it leaves the defendant’s control is regarded as foreseeable and is not a superseding intervening force

Question 17

Defenses To Product Liability

Answer 17

1. Misuse
2. Alteration
3. Assumption of the Risk

Question 18

Misuse

Answer 18

If a plaintiff uses a product in a manner that is neither intended nor foreseeable, he has misused the product and it cannot be defective.

Question 19

Alteration

Answer 19

If employers alter the device; remove safety devices in order to make a machine more efficient = no liability

Question 20

Assumption of the Risk

Answer 20

Only available defense