Strict Liability & Products Liability Quiz

Strict Liability & Products Liability

• Strict liability imposes absolute liability on a defendant without a finding of fault (no intent or negligence needed).
• A plaintiff only needs to prove the tort occurred and the defendant was responsible.
• Specific situations include liability for animals, abnormally dangerous activities, and strict product liability.

Products Liability

• Products liability holds manufacturers and sellers accountable for placing defective products into consumers' hands.
• This includes specific examples such as the case of Kramer v. Java World (hot coffee).
• Relevant cases include Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, and Stella Liebeck's Injuries.
• Several different product liability theories exist.

Products Liability Theories

• If a case involves intentional harm, intentional torts are the relevant area, not products liability.
• Key theories of products liability include: Strict Products Liability, Negligence, Express Warranty, and Implied Warranty.

Products Liability Approach

• The assessment of products liability cases follows a specific approach. Key issues to consider are: Proper Damages? Proper Parties? Standard of Care? Causation? Defenses?

Strict Product Liability

• A commercial supplier who places a product in the stream of commerce can be held liable if the product has an unreasonably dangerous defect that causes damages.

Strict Products Liability Approach

• Damages include personal injury or property damage.
• Parties involved include anyone in the supply chain, buyers, users, and foreseeable bystanders.
• The standard of care is an unreasonably dangerous product that can be in manufacturing, design, or warnings.
• The causation must be actual and proximate.
• Defenses to strict products liability include unforeseeable misuse, unforeseeable alterations, assumption of risk. There is no contributory or comparative negligence.

Standard - Defects

• Manufacturing defect: product made incorrectly.
• Design defect: Risk-benefit test (do risks outweigh benefit) or consumer expectation test (is product more dangerous than expected).
• Warning defect: duty to warn about foreseeable risks at manufacture time. Types include absence of warning or inadequate warning.

Causation

• Actual cause: Defendant's actions directly caused plaintiff's injury.
• Proximate cause: Was it fair to hold defendant liable for the consequences? (consider direct vs indirect, intervening acts).

Negligence

• A defective product isn't enough, a breach of duty (unreasonable conduct) leading to injury needs to be shown.
• Negligence in product liability is limited to behavior within the supply chain.

Negligence Approach

• Damages include personal injury and property damage.
• Parties involved include anyone within the supply chain who breached their duty, private sellers, repairers and all foreseeable plaintiffs
• Standard is reasonable care under the circumstances.
• Causation is actual and proximate.
• Applicable defenses include: unforeseeable misuse, unforeseeable alteration, contributory/comparative negligence, and assumption of risk.

Warranty

• Express warranty: statement about a product's safety/functionality that proves untrue, causing injury.
• Implied warranty: implied qualities/strengths/merchantability or particular purpose (includes fitness for average use (edible food, functioning cars) or fitness for a specific use (e.g., cold-weather sleeping bag).

Express Warranty Approach

• Damages: personal injury/property damage and economic loss.
• Parties to litigation: anyone who makes the warranty and any foreseeable parties relying on it.
• Standard: clear statement for warranty; failure leads to liability.
• Causation: actual & proximate cause.
• Defenses: unforeseeable misuse/alteration/assumption of risk.

Implied Warranty Approach

• Damages: personal injury/property damage and economic loss.
• Parties to litigation: seller and purchaser.
• Merchantability standard: fit for average intended use when sold.
• Fitness standard: specific use, implicitly warranted (e.g., cold weather sleeping bag).
• Causation: actual & proximate cause.
• Defenses: unforeseeable misuse/alteration/assumption of risk.