Unlike most legal principles,product liability law is a rather recent development. Strict liability forproducts was first used by the California Supreme Court in the 1960's. Otherstates began to adopt the notion after the American Law Institute adopted it in1965. Federal courts use thebody of product liability law of the state where the case is tried.
Evidence laws tend to be moreuniform than product liability laws, however they work in conjunction.
Youalso have varying skill levels among plaintiff and defense lawyers in makingthese arguments. The biggest problem is that a party often does not know untiljust prior to or during the trial as to how the judge will rule on theadmission of certain evidence. Industry standards usually become an issue in design defect cases as opposed tomanufacturing defect cases or those involving a failure to warn. Theplaintiff's burden of proof in a design case is fairly easy in a state likeCalifornia. The defendant must then show that thebenefits of such a design outweigh the risk of danger inherent in thechallenged design.