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Product liability arises from:
- Defect in manufacture
- Defect in design
- Failure to warn of hazard related to foreseeable
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Duty owed to whom?
Foreseeable plaintiffs (i.e., purchaser, user, bystander
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Breach is what?
Failure to exercise reasonable care om omst[ectopm pr sa;e/
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Strict Product liability where:
Defect posed unreasonable danger to user and:
- supplier is in the business of selling the product AND
- it is expected to or reaches the user in an unchanged condition.
Misuse is not a defense to strict products liability.
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Proving manufacturing defect:
- Product was defectively manufactured
- Defect existed when product left the defendant's control
- Defect caused plaintiff injury
- Plaintiff used product in reasonably foreseeable way
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Proving design defect
- Product defectively designed
- Defect existed when product left the defendant's control
- Defect caused plaintiff injury
- Plaintiff used product in reasonably foreseeable way
Standards for deciding if design was defective:
- Dangerous beyond expectation of ordinary consumer
- There was reasonable alternative design
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Proving failure to warn
- Defect existed when product left the defendant's control
- Defect caused plaintiff injury
- Plaintiff used product in reasonably foreseeable way
- Did not warn of the defect
NY: manufacturer not liable for post-sale "substantial" modification of product rendering the product unsafe, but must still warn of dangers of modification.
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Defenses to strict products liability
- Comparative negligence
- Assumption of risk
- Unforeseeable misuse, modification, or alteration of product by user
- Substantial change in product before it reached consumer
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