Tort - Product Liability and Breach of Statutory Duty Flashcards
Liability for defective product
Where no contractual duty exists between consumer and manufacturer (i.e. no privity of contract)
Negligence Liability
Product manufacturer duty of care
- Put out product in final form intended to reach consumer
- No reasonable expectation that intermediary will inspect product
Extends to those who may come into contact with the product
Also owed by those who install or repair the product
Duty extends to personal injury and economic loss consequential to such injury
Extends to damage caused to other property but not the defective product itself
Proving breach of duty
- Show manufacturer failed to exercise reasonable care
- Court may infer breach of duty because defect exists (an application of res ipsa) on the basis that the defect could only arise from a fault in the manufacturing process
If fault due to a third party the manufacturer must have known it was defective
Consumer Protection Act 1987
- Defect
- Suffered damage - does not include damage to product itself
- Caused by defect
- Defendant is producer, own brander or importer of product
Strict liability - no requirement for defendant to be at fault
Defences under 1987 Act
- Defect did not exist when producer supplied product
- Product not supplied in course of business and not acting to make a profit
- Existence of defect not discoverable at time product supplied - ‘State of the Art’ defence
State of the Art defence does not apply if a risk is known but scientific and technical knowledge is not such that the producer is unable to detect the defect before supply and the product does contain the defect and causes damage
Breach of statutory duty
If a statute is silent as to civil liability the court will consider several questions:
- Did Parliament intend the statute to give rise to a civil claim?
- C falls within class protected by statutory duty
- Statutory duty breached by D
- C suffered type of damage statute intended to protect against
Statute may expressly provide for civil claims or expressly exclude them
Entirely separate from a claim in the tort of negligence
Defendants under the CPA 1987
- The producer of the product
- Anyone holding themselves out to be the producer (i.e. put their name or mark on it)
- Any person who imported the product in order to supply it in the course of their business
If two (or more) potential defendants are liable to the claimant for the same damage they are jointly and severally liable
Liability of Supplier
- Only liable if the claimant has requested the supplier to identify the producer
- The request has been made within a reasonable period of time
- It is not reasonably practicable for the claimant to identify the producer indepedently; and
- The supplier fails to identify the producer within a reasonable time
Damage
CPA 1987 defines damage as death or personal injury or damage to property
Damage to defective product itself and damage to business property are not recoverable
Damage to property must exceed £275 to be recoverable