products liability Flashcards
What must be proven for manufacturing defects
defective when bought and proximate cause of the injury (by using experts etc)
example:He would need to call expert evidence to show that the breaking of the front forks was caused by some defect, such as a weakness in the metal, that is not present in other bicycles of the same kind. The expert evidence would also have to show that the defect, whatever it was, was present when the wholesaler sold the bicycle to the shop from which Michael bought it.
Consumer expectations test (design)
“The rule stated in this Section applies only where the product is, at the time it leaves the seller’s hands, in a condition not contemplated by the ultimate consumer, which will be unreasonably dangerous to him [sic].”
Comment i contains the following sentence:
“The article sold must be dangerous to an extent beyond that which would be contemplated by the ordinary consumer who purchases it, with the ordinary knowledge common to the community as to its characteristics.”
Thus, the test does not focus on the process by which the product was made or whether it could reasonably have been made safer. It focuses on what level of safety the ordinary consumer would expect the product to have. If the product is not as safe as ordinary consumers would expect it to be, it is “defective”.
risk/utility test (design)
focuses on the process by which the product was made, rather than on the expectations of consumers about its safety. According to this test, a product is defective if its design embodies “excessive preventable danger” see Barker v. Lull Engineering Co., Inc., 573 P.2d 443, 454 (Cal. 1978). That occurs when the risk of danger inherent in the challenged design outweighs the benefits of that design.
