Strict Liability and Products Liability

Question 1

What liability do owners of animals face?

Answer 1

An owner is stricly liable for reasonably foreseeable damage done by a trespass of his animals.

An owner is strictly liable to licensees and invitees for injuries caused by wild animal (even those kept as pets).

An owner is strictly liable for injuries caused by domestic animals that he has knowledge of that particular animal’s dangerous propensities that are not common to the species. Injury caused by the normal dangerous characteristics of domestic animals (e.g. bulls or honeybees) does not create strict liability.

This is not available to trespassers in the absence of the owner’s negligence.

Question 2

How does the court determine whether something is an abnormally dangerous activity?

Answer 2

There are two requirements for finding an activity to be abnormally dangerous: (i) the activity must create a foreseeable risk of serious harm even when reasonable care is exercised by all actors; and (ii) the activity is not a matter of common usage in the community.

On the MBE, the common activities are (i) blasting/use of explosives, (ii) handling/transportation/use of dangerous substance, and (iii) nuclear activity.

Question 3

For products liability, what type of defects can be brought in a products liability case?

Answer 3

1. Manufacturing Defects: If a product emerges from manufacturing different from and more dangerous than the products that were made properly, it has a manufacturing defect.
2. Design Defects: When all prodcuts of a line are the same but have dangerous propensities, they may be found to have a design defect.
3. Inadequate Warnings: A product may be defective as a result of the manufacturer’s failure to give adequate warnings as to the risks involved in using the product that may not be apparent to users.

Question 4

How can a plaintiff prove a manufacturing defect?

Answer 4

Defendant will be liable if plaintiff can show that the product failed to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect (defendant must anticipate reasonable misuse). This test also applies to defective food products.

Question 5

How can a plaintiff prove a design defects?

Answer 5

Plaintiff usually must show that the defendant could have made the product safer, without serious impact on the product’s price or utility (the “feasible alternative” approach).

Question 6

What role do government safety standards play in products liability case?

Answer 6

A products noncompliance with government safety standards establishes that it is defective, while compliance with safety standards (including labeling requirements) is evidence, but not conclusive, that the product is not defective.

Question 7

What is the prima facie case for a strict products liability case?

Answer 7

1. A commercial supplier of a product;
2. Producing or selling a defective product;
3. Actual and proximate cause; and
4. Damages

For liability to attach the product must reach plaintiff without substantial alteration.