Strict Liability Flashcards
What writ does Strict Liability come from?
The Writ of Trespass
What are the main areas Strict Liability generally applies?
Animals
Abnormally Dangerous Activities
Misc. categories (e.g. subjacent and lateral support of your home, products liability, etc.)
When is Strict Liability imposed for animals?
Strict Liability is imposed for animals that:
Trespass onto someone else’s land (and this covers not only injury to the land, but injury to the person if the injury is characteristic to the animal).
Possess abnormally dangerous tendencies that the owner knows or should have known has these tendencies.
Are “wild by nature.”
Strict Liability
What kinds of activities fall under abnormally dangerous activities?
Explosives are the most frequent type.
What does the Restatement (3d) Torts § 20 say about Strict Liability for abnormally dangerous activities?
The activity must create “a foreseeable and highly significant risk of physical harm even when reasonable care is exercised by all actors; and
The activity is not one of common usage.”
What does it mean for an activity to create a “foreseeable and highly significant risk of physical harm even when reasonable care is exercised by all actors”?
If an activity can not be made safe even despite exercising reasonable care, there is probably a highly significant risk of physical harm.
Can plaintiffs recover if they participated in the activity or were at fault?
Plaintiffs can not recover for injuries arising from activities with highly significant risk of harm that they were participants on themselves.
If there is any fault at all on the part of the plaintiff, it is not appropriate for strict liability.
What are defenses to Strict Liability?
Restatement (2d)
–Contributory Negligence: No
–Assumption of Risk: Yes
Restatement (3rd)
–Comparative Responsibility
—-If the plaintiff could have reduced the risk through the plaintiff’s own care, then it ceases to be a question of strict liability and becomes a question of negligence.
What does the Restatement (2d) Torts § 402A say about Products Liability?
“One who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer or to his property is subject to liability for physical harm caused to the owner…”
What are the Preliminaries for Products Liability?
Strict Liability applies to anyone who sells chattels as part of their business, but does not cover casual sellers of products.
No privity is required for Strict Liability.
There is no recovery for stand-alone economic harm under Strict Liability.
Products are subject to Strict Liability, but services are not subject to Strict Liability.
–If the person isn’t the seller of the product and is merely administering a service, they are not liable under a strict liability standpoint.
Does Products Liability apply to all dangerous products?
No, Products Liability doesn’t apply to dangerous products at all. It applies to defective products.
A dangerous product is reasonably dangerous, but a defective product is unreasonably dangerous.
A dangerous product could also be a defective product, but is not a defective product in and of itself.
What are the three categories of product defect?
Manufacturing (e.g., something goes wrong in the manufacturing process resulting in something like glass in baby food jar).
Design (e.g., the whole line of products is defective such as plastic fixtures on a certain model of IKEA mirror not being strong enough).
Warning (e.g., the product is unsafe because the instructions given to the consumer are inadequate).
What does the Restatement (2d) say about Products Liability?
Consumer Expectation Test: When a product didn’t conform to consumer expectations, then it could be said to be unreasonably dangerous.
What does the Restatement (3d) say about Products Liability?
Divides up product defects into three types of product defects:
Manufacturing
Design
Warning
Is the law surrounding product liability consistent?
Yes, even despite changes in language.
