David Owen - Products Liability in a Nutshell

_________

JESSE H. CHOPER

Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus,
University of California, Berkeley

JOSHUA DRESSLER

Professor of Law, Michael E. Moritz College of Law,
The Ohio State University

YALE KAMISAR

Professor of Law Emeritus, University of San Diego
Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Michigan

MARY KAY KANE

Professor of Law, Chancellor and Dean Emeritus,
University of California,
Hastings College of the Law

LARRY D. KRAMER

President, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

JONATHAN R. MACEY

Professor of Law, Yale Law School

ARTHUR R. MILLER

University Professor, New York University
Formerly Bruce Bromley Professor of Law, Harvard University

GRANT S. NELSON

Professor of Law, Pepperdine University
Professor of Law Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles

A. BENJAMIN SPENCER

Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

JAMES J. WHITE

Robert A. Sullivan Professor of Law Emeritus,
University of Michigan

NINTH EDITION

by

DAVID G. OWEN

Carolina Distinguished Professor of Law Emeritus
University of South Carolina

Mat #41076625

The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or other professional advice, and this publication is not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. If you require legal or other expert advice, you should seek the services of a competent attorney or other professional.

Nutshell Series, In a Nutshell and the Nutshell Logo are trademarks registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

COPYRIGHT 1974, 1981, 1988, 1993 WEST PUBLISHING CO.

West, a Thomson business, 1998, 2003, 2005, 2008

2015 LEG, Inc. d/b/a West Academic

444 Cedar Street, Suite 700
St. Paul, MN 55101
1-877-888-1330

West, West Academic Publishing, and West Academic are trademarks of West Publishing Corporation, used under license.

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-0-314-26840-2

For Don

_________

PRODUCTS LIABILITY IN A NUTSHELL explores the ever-changing terrain of this field of law, including its essential history, developments, policies, and tensions. Succinctly yet comprehensively, this work examines the classic cases, illustrative and provocative case developments, and the most important state and federal legislation, on such matters as grounds of liability; definitions and proof of product defect; rules for expert testimony, including important Supreme Court decisions and changes in the Federal Rules of Evidence; how courts and legislatures have dealt with the perplexing issue of state of the art; how the evolving jurisprudence on federal preemption, particularly in the Supreme Court, affects this field of law; other affirmative defenses; recent developments in various special types of litigation, involving such products as alcohol, tobacco, asbestos, lead paint, fast foods, automotive vehicles, and prescription drugs and medical devices; and various changes wrought by the RESTATEMENT (THIRD) OF TORTS: PRODUCTS LIABILITY.

This Nutshell is a highly abridged version of my hornbook/treatise, PRODUCTS LIABILITY LAW (West, 3d ed. 2015). Readers seeking greater detail in analysis and citations are referred to that work, which is organized by identical sections and topics.

Thanks for editorial work on this edition are due to my research assistants, Thomas Clinkscales, VI Marshall Crane, Todd Lyle, Jennie Rischbieter, Danielle Salerno, and Andrew Walker. For his continuing (perhaps perpetual) guidance on the interstices of the Hand formula, I am indebted to John Lopatka. For numerous editorial and other enhancements, and for skillfully managing the books editing and production, I am especially grateful for the tireless contributions of Karen Miller, my learned research associate, who meticulously adapted revisions of my hornbook to this edition of the Nutshell.

DAVID G. OWEN

Cashiers, North Carolina
November 2014

_________

References are to Pages

_________

ACandS, Inc. v. Abate, 710 A.2d 944 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 1998) ............ 484

Accordini v. Security Cen., Inc., 320 S.E.2d 713 (S.C. Ct. App. 1984) ............ 370

Adams v. Genie Indus., 929 N.E.2d 380 (N.Y. 2010) ............ 342

Adams v. Northern Illinois Gas Co., 809 N.E.2d 1248 (Ill. 2004) ............ 52

Aguirre v. Home Depot U.S.A., Inc., 2012 WL 3639078 (E.D. Cal. 2012) ............ 490

Alabama Powersport Auction, LLC v. Wiese, 143 So.3d 713 (Ala. 2013) ............ 471

Altria Group, Inc. v. Good, 555 U.S. 70 (2008) ............ 439

Anchundia v. Northeast Utils. Serv. Co., 2010 WL 2400154 (E.D.N.Y. 2010) ............ 66

Anderson v. Dreis & Krump Mfg. Corp., 739 P.2d 1177 (Wash. Ct. App. 1987) ............ 383

Anderson v. General Motors Corp., 1999 WL 1466627 (Cal. Super. Ct. L.A. Cnty. 1999) ............ 507

Anderson v. Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corp., 810 P.2d 549 (Cal. 1991) ............ 182, 330

Arriaga v. CitiCapital Commercial Corp., 85 Cal. Rptr. 3d 143 (Ct. App. 2008) ............ 476

Asbestos Prods. Liab. Litig. (No. VI), In re, 2012 WL 760739 (E.D. Pa. 2012) ............ 349

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009) ............ 80

Auld v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 25 N.Y.S.2d 491 (App. Div. 1941), ............ 336

Ault v. International Harvester Co., 528 P.2d 1148 (Cal. 1974) ............ 216

Austin v. Will-Burt Co., 361 F.3d 862 (5th Cir. 2004) ............ 284

Azzarello v. Black Bros. Co., 391 A.2d 1020 (Pa. 1978) ............ 167

Baker v. City of Seattle, 484 P.2d 405 (Wash. 1971) ............ 475

Barker v. Lull Engineering Co., 573 P.2d 443 (Cal. 1978) ............ 168, 262

Barnish v. KWI Bldg. Co., 916 A.2d 642 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2007) ............ 336

Barry v. Quality Steel Prods., Inc., 820 A.2d 258 (Conn. 2003) ............ 392

Bartkewich v. Billinger, 247 A.2d 603 (Pa. 1968) ............ 307

Bastian v. Wausau Homes, Inc., 620 F. Supp. 947 (N.D. Ill. 1985) ............ 492

Bates v. Dow Agrosciences LLC, 544 U.S. 431 (2005) ............ 440

Bauerlein v. Salvation Army, 905 N.Y.S.2d 215 (App. Div. 2010) ............ 467

Baxter v. Ford Motor Co., 12 P.2d 409 (Wash. 1932) ............ 88

Baymiller v. Ranbaxy Pharms., Inc., 2012 WL 2727874 (D. Nev. 2012) ............ 544

Beard v. Johnson & Johnson, Inc., 41 A.3d 823 (Pa. 2012) ............ 232

Bearint v. Johnson Controls, Inc., 2006 WL 1890186 (M.D. Fla. 2006) ............ 452

Beattie v. Beattie, 786 A.2d 549 (Del. Super. Ct. 2001) ............ 478

Beauchamp v. Dow Chem. Co., 398 N.W.2d 882 (Mich. 1986) ............ 463

Bednarski v. Hideout Homes & Realty, Inc., 711 F. Supp. 823 (M.D. Pa. 1989) ............ 492

Beers v. One World Techs., Inc., 769 F. Supp. 2d 15 (D. Mass. 2011) ............ 446

Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) ............ 80

Bell v. Industrial Vangas, Inc., 637 P.2d 266 (Cal. 1981) ............ 462

Bell v. Precision Airmotive Corp., 42 P.3d 1071 (Alaska 2002) ............ 487