Chapter 12 - Product Liability

Question 1

Manufacturer

Answer 1

Designer, formulator, constructor, rebuilder, fabricator, producer, compounder, processor, or assembler of any product or any component part thereof who places the product or any component part thereof in the stream of commerce.

Question 2

Seller

Answer 2

Person engaged in the business of distributing or otherwise placing, for any commercial purpose, in the stream of commerce for use or consumption a product or any component part thereof.

Question 3

Damages can include:

Answer 3

Personal injury, death, property damage, pure economic loss ((pecuniary) monetary loss related to the product itself)

Question 4

3 categories of Defect

Answer 4

1. Manufacturing defect
2. Design defect
3. Marketing Defect

Question 5

Manufacturing defect~

Answer 5

Deviation in product’s construction or quality from its specifications or planned output in a manner that renders it unreasonably dangerous

Question 6

Design Defect

Answer 6

Condition that renders product unreasonably dangerous as designed, taking into consideration its utility and the risk involved in its use. For a design defect to exist, there must have been a safer alternative design.

Question 7

3 Types of Design Defect

Answer 7

1. Structural design defect
2. Safety Feature Design
3. Foreseeable misuse design defect

Question 8

Structural Design Defect

Answer 8

Structural weakness caused by defendant’s choice of materials that do make the products reasonably safe
Note: Defendants are not required to provide the most durable design or make products last forever. Obligation is to make products reasonably safe

Question 9

Safety Feature Design Defect

Answer 9

Absence of a safety feature when the expense of installation is relatively minimal compared to product’s cost and magnitude of danger that exists without the safety feature.
Common defenses asserted to this allegation:
a. Defendant’s product is as safe as the competition’s
b. Danger was so obvious that plaintiff could have protected himself even in the absence of any safety device.

Question 10

Foreseeable misuse design defect

Answer 10

Absence of design precaution protecting plaintiff from dangers arising when the product is put to use other than that intended by the manufacturer when that other use is reasonably foreseeable.
Ex. Vehicles that, although crashworthy for a first collision, are not crashworthy for “second collisions”. Most modern courts hold that second collisions are reasonably foreseeable.

Question 11

Marketing Defect (Defective warning)

Answer 11

Failure to give adequate warnings of product’s dangers that were known or should have known, which failure rendered product unreasonably dangerous as marketed
Courts weigh:
1) Likely number and severity of accidents that could be avoided by having a warning or instruction against
2) Difficulty of providing such warnings and instructions
Normally no duty to warn if defendant neither knew nor should have known of the danger at the time it sold the product
3) Obviousness of danger is a factor to consider, but does not necessarily preclude a duty to warn
4) Manufacturers may have a post-sale duty to warn if they discover a product is hazardous after it is sold

Question 12

Product liability means the liability of (3):

Answer 12

1. Of a manufacturer or a seller
2. For damages arising out of personal injury, death, property damage, and (under certain theories) pure economic loss
3. Caused by a defective product