Opinion ID: 3150568
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Whether the Third District Erred in Failing

Text: to Apply Our Precedent in West We first consider the Third District’s decision to apply the Third Restatement, which expressly and directly conflicts with our holding in West, 336 So. 2d 80, and with the Fourth District’s decision in McConnell, 937 So. 2d 148, both of which applied the consumer expectations test set forth in the Second Restatement as the test for design defect under strict products liability. In analyzing this claim, we must review the cases applying the consumer expectations test and then contrast that approach with the Third District’s adoption of the Third Restatement. We then analyze other state supreme court opinions that have considered this same question and expressed concern that the Third Restatement’s - 19 - approach in strict products liability cases creates numerous public policy concerns that are inconsistent with the purpose behind adopting strict liability. In doing so, we emphasize that the Restatement is not a uniform code that is promulgated to harmonize the law throughout the states. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that the Second Restatement, which applies the consumer expectations test as the appropriate test for determining a design defect, is more closely aligned with the policy reasons behind Florida’s adoption of strict liability in products design cases. A. Florida’s Prior Adoption of Strict Liability in Design Defect Cases In West, this Court addressed the issue of whether a manufacturer may be held liable under the theory of strict liability in tort for injury to a user of the defective product and, joining the majority of jurisdictions that had considered the issue, adopted strict products liability: In other words strict liability should be imposed only when a product the manufacturer places on the market, knowing that it is to be used without inspection for defects, proves to have a defect that causes injury to a human being. The user should be protected from unreasonably dangerous products or from a product fraught with unexpected dangers. In order to hold a manufacturer liable on the theory of strict liability in tort, the user must establish the manufacturer’s relationship to the product in question, the defect and unreasonably dangerous condition of the product, and the existence of the proximate causal connection between such condition and the user’s injuries or damages. - 20 - West, 336 So. 2d at 86-87. In enunciating the policy reasons for the importance of strict liability, a unanimous Court explained: The cost of injuries or damages, either to persons or property, resulting from defective products, should be borne by the makers of the products who put them into the channels of trade, rather than by the injured or damaged persons who are ordinarily powerless to protect themselves. We therefore hold that a manufacturer is strictly liable in tort when an article he places on the market, knowing that it is to be used without inspection for defects, proves to have a defect that causes injury to a human being. Id. at 92. We noted that prior Florida courts had imposed strict liability in tort in such situations and that this approach was also in conformity with the principles set forth in the Second Restatement. Id. at 86. The Second Restatement applies the “consumer expectations” test, which considers whether a product is unreasonably dangerous in design because it failed to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect when used as intended or in a reasonably foreseeable manner. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A (1965). This test intrinsically recognizes that a manufacturer plays a central role in establishing the consumers’ expectations for a particular product, which in turn motivates consumers to purchase the product. Since our adoption of the consumer expectations test, we have rejected applying legal principles that are inconsistent with the general philosophy espoused by this Court in West. See, e.g., Auburn Mach. Works Co. v. Jones, 366 So. 2d 1167, 1167 (Fla. 1979) (rejecting the patent danger doctrine, which - 21 - insulates manufacturers from liability if a dangerous product does not create a unknown risk to the user and is without any latent defect, as a total defense to strict liability claims involving defective products); Ford Motor Co. v. Hill, 404 So. 2d 1049, 1050-52 (Fla. 1981) (rejecting the argument that only a negligence standard should apply to design defect claims). The principles this Court set forth in West have been subsequently applied for almost four decades to cases involving a variety of products and contexts. See, e.g., Samuel Friedland Family Enter. v. Amoroso, 630 So. 2d 1067, 1071 (Fla. 1994) (applying West to commercial lessors who were in the business of leasing a sailboat, which was an allegedly defective product); Stazenski v. Tennant Co., 617 So. 2d 344, 346 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993) (applying West to a manufacturing defect claim regarding an industrial sweeper); Visnoski v. J.C. Penney Co., 477 So. 2d 29, 29 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985) (applying West to strict liability claims against retailers); Liggett Group, Inc. v. Davis, 973 So. 2d 467, 473-75 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007) (applying the Second Restatement and West in a claim involving cigarette smoking injuries); Cintron v. Osmose Wood Preserving, Inc., 681 So. 2d 859, 861 (Fla. 5th DCA 1996) (applying West in a strict liability claim regarding flame retardant plywood). In fact, two prior cases from the Fourth District, Kavanaugh and McConnell, involved this exact product—SG-210 Calidria—and the same defendant. See - 22 - Kavanaugh, 879 So. 2d at 45; McConnell, 937 So. 2d at 154. In Kavanaugh, the Fourth District affirmed a jury verdict of $1,153,000 against Union Carbide, where the jury found Union Carbide 100% liable for Kavanaugh’s damages related to asbestos exposure during “his employ as a carpenter when he sanded joint compound which contained asbestos.” Kavanaugh, 879 So. 2d at 43. The evidence established that Kavanaugh “primarily used ‘Ready Mix’ joint compound manufactured by Georgia-Pacific” and that Union Carbide “manufactured the asbestos and supplied Georgia-Pacific with the asbestos that eventually ended up in the ‘Ready Mix’ joint compound.” Id. at 43. On appeal, Union Carbide claimed that it was entitled to a directed verdict on the failure to warn claim because “it satisfied its duty to warn by informing Georgia-Pacific of the hazards of asbestos” and that “as a bulk supplier, it had no affirmative duty to warn ultimate users of asbestos.” Id. at 44. In rejecting Union Carbide’s claim that, as a matter of law, it could not be responsible for warning ultimate users, the Fourth District relied on factors set forth in section 388 of the Second Restatement, concluding that Union Carbide did not fulfill its duty to warn. In affirming the jury verdict, the Fourth District noted that Union Carbide “provided Georgia-Pacific with limited information which was not communicated to the ultimate users. Because [Union Carbide] did not take reasonable precautions - 23 - under the circumstances, its duty to warn did not stop with Georgia-Pacific, but continued to the ultimate user.” Id. at 46. In McConnell, 937 So. 2d at 149, the Fourth District faced a similar factual scenario, in which the plaintiff worked for various drywall businesses and often used “Ready Mix,” a joint compound that contained Calidria asbestos. The plaintiff asserted that he was never warned that the joint compound contained asbestos and, as a consequence of using the product as intended, he inhaled asbestos fibers manufactured by Union Carbide, which caused him to develop asbestosis. Id. at 149-50. Union Carbide argued that the jury should not be instructed on the design or manufacturing defect as a basis for strict liability because it sold only “raw” asbestos, which was incapable of being defectively manufactured or designed. Id. at 150. The trial court agreed that Union Carbide could not be strictly liable for a product defect because the product was “raw” asbestos. Id. On appeal, the Fourth District rejected that argument, relying on Union Carbide’s own marketing literature, which promoted its proprietary manufacturing process that caused Calidria asbestos to go “twice as far” as that of their competitors. Id. The Fourth District concluded that the plaintiffs were entitled to have the jury instructed as to the consumer expectations test for strict liability, which originated in section 402A of the Second Restatement. Id. at 155. In - 24 - making this determination, the Fourth District relied on Force v. Ford Motor Co., 879 So. 2d 103, 106 (Fla. 5th DCA 2004), which held that “[u]nder the consumerexpectation theory a product is defectively designed if the plaintiff is able to demonstrate that the product did not perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect when used in the intended or reasonably foreseeable manner.” McConnell, 937 So. 2d at 151 (quoting Force, 879 So. 2d at 106). B. The Third District’s Adoption of the Third Restatement In contrast to McConnell and Kavanaugh, both of which applied the Second Restatement to similar scenarios, in Aubin, the Third District explicitly rejected the application of the consumer expectations test in section 402A of the Second Restatement. Instead, the Third District held that the proper test for design defect was articulated in the Third Restatement, concluding that the risk utility test and the component parts doctrine, as explained in sections 2 and 5 of the Third Restatement, Products Liability, were applicable to the claims at issue. Aubin, 97 So. 3d at 894. The Third District recognized that this Court had adopted the consumer expectations test set forth in section 402A of the Second Restatement in West and that the Fourth District in McConnell applied the consumer expectations test in a case involving the same product. Id. at 893-94. The Third District, however, adhered to its own precedent, noting that it had already adopted sections - 25 - 2 and 5 of the Third Restatement, Products Liability, in Kohler, 907 So. 2d at 59899, and Agrofollajes, 48 So. 3d at 997. See Aubin, 97 So. 3d at 893. Thus, in approving the use of the Third Restatement, the Third District utilized the risk utility test as the legal standard for a design defect claim, in which the plaintiff must demonstrate that “the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by the adoption of a reasonable alternative design by the seller or other distributor, or a predecessor in the commercial chain of distribution, and the omission of the alternative design renders the product not reasonably safe.” Kohler, 907 So. 2d at 599. Specifically, the pertinent portion of the Third Restatement reads as follows: A product is defective when, at the time of sale or distribution, it contains a manufacturing defect, is defective in design, or is defective because of inadequate instructions or warnings. A product: ... (b) is defective in design when the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by the adoption of a reasonable alternative design by the seller or other distributor, or a predecessor in the commercial chain of distribution, and the omission of the alternative design renders the product not reasonably safe; (c) is defective because of inadequate instructions or warnings when the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by the provision of reasonable instructions or warnings by the seller or other distributor, or a predecessor in the commercial chain of distribution, and the omission of the - 26 - instructions or warnings renders the product not reasonably safe. Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability § 2 (1998) (emphasis added). The critical difference regarding design defects between the Second Restatement and the Third Restatement is that the Third Restatement not only replaces the consumer expectations test with the risk utility test but also requires the plaintiff to demonstrate the existence of “a reasonable alternative design.” Id. The intent of the Third Restatement to introduce foreseeability of the risk as a part of a plaintiff’s proof of an action for design defects is evident. As Comment (a) to Section 2 of the Third Restatement explains, the Third Restatement incorporates an element of foreseeability of risk of harm and a risk-benefit test. Id. By introducing foreseeability of the risk to the manufacturer as part of the calculus for design defect and requiring proof of a “reasonable alternative design,” the Third Restatement reintroduces principles of negligence into strict liability. C. Whether to Adopt the Third Restatement in Strict Products Liability Design Defect Cases In determining whether to adhere to our precedent and continue to apply the Second Restatement or to adopt the Third Restatement in strict liability design defect cases, we are assisted by the reasoning of several state supreme courts, which were confronted with similar decisions and declined to adopt the Third Restatement because of its markedly different approach to strict products liability. - 27 - See, e.g., Potter v. Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co., 694 A.2d 1319, 1332 (Conn. 1997); Delaney v. Deere & Co., 999 P.2d 930, 946 (Kan. 2000); Rodriguez v. Suzuki Motor Corp., 996 S.W.2d 47, 64-65 (Mo. 1999); Tincher v. Omega Flex, Inc., 104 A.3d 328, 335 (Pa. 2014); Green v. Smith & Nephew AHP, Inc., 629 N.W.2d 727, 751-752 (Wis. 2001). These decisions have enunciated several compelling reasons for rejecting the adoption of the Third Restatement as to design defect. First, by departing from the consumer expectations test, set forth in the Second Restatement, and instead focusing on the foreseeability of the risk of harm, including a cost-benefit analysis, the Third Restatement “blurs the distinction between strict products liability claims and negligence claims.” Green, 629 N.W. 2d at 751. Rather than focusing on the design of the product, it focuses on the conduct of the manufacturer. Besides shifting the emphasis away from strict liability principles, the Third Restatement’s risk utility test imposes a higher burden on consumers to prove a design defect than exists in negligence cases—the antithesis of adopting strict products liability in the first place. As explained by the Supreme Court of Wisconsin: But we are more troubled by the fact that 2(b) sets the bar higher for recovery in strict products liability design defect cases than in comparable negligence cases. Section 2(b) does not merely incorporate a negligence standard into strict products liability law. - 28 - Instead, it adds to this standard the additional requirement that an injured consumer seeking to recover under strict products liability must prove that there was a “reasonable alternative design” available to the product’s manufacturer. Thus, rather than serving the policies underlying strict products liability law by allowing consumers to recover for injuries caused by a defective and unreasonably dangerous product without proving negligence on the part of the product’s manufacturer, 2(b) increases the burden for injured consumers not only by requiring proof of the manufacturer’s negligence, but also by adding an additional—and considerable—element of proof to the negligence standard. This court will not impose such a burden on injured persons. Accord Sumnicht v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., 360 N.W.2d 2 (Wis. 1984) (rejecting the argument that Wisconsin strict products liability requires proof of an alternative, safer design). Green, 629 N.W.2d at 751-52 (footnote omitted). The Third Restatement, in some instances, could insulate a manufacturer from all liability for unreasonably dangerous products solely because a reasonable alternative design for that type of product may be unavailable. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, in a scholarly and thoughtful analysis, explained its reasons behind rejecting the Third Restatement’s approach: For the reasons that follow, we conclude that “adoption” of the Third Restatement approach is problematic. For one thing, articulating the burden of proof in terms of evidence (alternative design) deemed probative of the general principle of strict liability proscriptively limits the applicability of the cause of action to certain products as to which that sort of evidence is available. The approach suggests a priori categorical exemptions for some products—such as novel products with no alternative design—but not others. Tincher, 104 A.3d at 395. - 29 - While the original purpose of imposing strict liability for defective and unreasonably dangerous products was to relieve injured consumers from the difficulties of proving negligence on the part of the product’s manufacturer, the Third Restatement eliminates consideration of consumer expectations, the linchpin of the Second Restatement. The consumer expectations test intrinsically recognizes a manufacturer’s central role in crafting the image of a product and establishing the consumers’ expectations for that product—a portrayal which in turn motivates consumers to purchase that particular product. As expressed by the Supreme Court of Kansas in rejecting the Third Restatement’s focus on only the risk utility test and explaining the benefit of the consumer expectations test: We are convinced that in products liability cases, consumer expectations play a dominant role in the determination of defectiveness. Addressing this concern, Professor Marshall Shapo observed in his comments upon the Third Restatement’s failure to recognize the efficacy of consumer expectations, Shapo, Defective Restatement Design, 8 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 59, 60 (1998): “A broad concern about the [Third] Restatement as published stems from its single-minded emphasis on a risk/utility test. This seems to me, by itself, is an impoverished concept. It is impoverished especially insofar as the reporters ruled out consumer expectations as an independent test. They thereby ignored the centrality of what we all know as people and what I would hope that you would recognize as judges: the centrality of product portrayals and images and their role in creating consumer motives to purchase or encounter products.” - 30 - Delaney, 999 P.2d at 945 (emphasis added). Clearly, the Third Restatement fails to consider the crucial link between a manufacturer establishing the reasonable expectations of a product that in turn cause consumers to demand that product. Further, the Third Restatement places upon the plaintiff an additional burdensome element of proof, requiring the injured consumer to step into the shoes of a manufacturer and prove that a reasonable alternative design was available to the manufacturer. Even while recognizing exceptions to requiring proof of a reasonable alternative design, under the Third Restatement, the burden is still placed on the plaintiff to demonstrate his or her exemption from this additional requirement.5 The Supreme Court of Connecticut has expressed similar concerns: “in some instances, a product may be in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user even though no feasible alternative design is available.” Potter, 694 A.2d at 1332. As explained in Potter, the “feasible alternative design requirement imposes an undue burden on plaintiffs that might preclude otherwise valid claims from jury consideration.” Id. 5. The Third Restatement identifies some exceptions to the requirement of proving a reasonable alternative design, including the “manifestly unreasonable design cases” under section 2(b), comment e, and where a product’s design fails to comply with the applicable product safety statute or regulation and renders the product defective. - 31 - In fact, many states have expressed concerns about the Third Restatement itself, as it pertains to strict products liability.6 The Supreme Court of Kansas has explained why the requirement of a reasonable alternative design in the Third Restatement has been harshly criticized and has not become the rule in the majority of jurisdictions: The Third Restatement’s requirement that a plaintiff produce a reasonable alternative design has been harshly criticized. See Vargo, The Emperor’s New Clothes: The American Law Institute Adorns a “New Cloth” for Section 402A Products Liability Design Defects—A Survey of the States Reveals a Different Weave, 26 U. Mem. L. Rev. 493 (1996); Vandall, State Judges Should Reject the Reasonable Alternative Design Standard of the Restatement (Third), Products Liability, Section 2(b), 8 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 62 (1998); Westerbeke, The Reasonable Alternative Design Requirement, 8 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y 66 (1998). Vandall states that the reasonable alternative design requirement is not supported by public policy or economic analysis because the cost of processing a case will make it economically impossible to produce a reasonable alternative design in a small products liability case. 8 Kan. J.L. & Pub. Pol’y at 63. Further, contrary to the view of the authors of the Third Restatement that the majority of states require a reasonable alternative design to establish a design defect, research by John F. Vargo indicates that very few states in fact have this requirement. See 26 U. Mem. L. Rev. at 550–553. Vargo, in his exhaustive review, examines the Restatement (Third) of Torts’ claim that “reasonable alternative design” is the majority rule in this country and concludes that, far 6. Not all states have concerns about the reasonable alternative design requirement, however. At least three states have adopted an absolute requirement of alternative design evidence under the common law: Alabama, Maine, and Michigan. See John F. Vargo, The Emperor’s New Clothes: The American Law Institute Adorns a “New Cloth” for Section 402A Products Liability Design Defects—A Survey of the States Reveals a Different Weave, 26 U. Mem. L. Rev. 493, 536-37 (1996). - 32 - from a majority rule, only three states require reasonable alternative design and five do so by statute. See Appendix IV and related textual support for author’s conclusions, 26 U. Mem. L. Rev. at 951, 501-951. Our own research also reflects that a majority of jurisdictions in this country do not require a reasonable alternative design in product liability actions. It is clear in Kansas that evidence of a reasonable alternative design may be presented but is not required. We adhere to this principle and believe that it represents the majority rule in this country. Moreover, we believe the focus in such actions must remain on the product which is the subject of the litigation. In Garst v. General Motors Corp., 484 P.2d 47 (Kan. 1971), a case decided before our adoption of the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A, we noted that with regard to negligent design, it was “insufficient merely to assert that a different design would have alleviated or averted the plaintiff’s injuries.” In rejecting Comment I, we agree that as the foreword to the Third Restatement makes clear, the new Restatement “goes beyond the law.” Hazard, Foreword to Restatement (Third) of Torts, xv, xvi (1997). Rather than simply taking a photograph of the law of the field, the Third Restatement goes beyond this to create a framework for products liability. We have examined Comment I and find it wanting. The adoption of Comment I necessarily involves the adoption of the reasonable alternative design standard and an exclusive risk/utility analysis of that reasonable alternative design to determine whether the subject product is defective. Delaney, 999 P.2d at 945-46; accord Potter, 694 A.2d at 1331 (requirement of a reasonable alternative design as part of the plaintiff’s proof is not the view of a majority of jurisdictions). The Restatement is not a codification of law or necessarily the consensus on the best policy for courts regarding the proper legal standard for strict liability in - 33 - products liability cases.7 In fact, the methodology employed by the American Law Institute in drafting the Third Restatement reflects hurdles in creating a categorical pronouncement in an area of law as complex and fact-driven as strict products liability. As explained by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Tincher: The methodology employed by the reporters suggests additional potential weaknesses in the strict liability schemata of the Third Restatement that should caution courts against categorical pronouncements. Citing representative cases from several jurisdictions, the reporters offer that an alternative-design driven riskutility general rule—with a special consumer expectations rule for cases in which the design defect is demonstrable—reflects the consensus among American jurisdictions as to the applicable liability construct in “classic design cases.” See [James A. Henderson, Jr. & Aaron D. Twerski, Achieving Consensus on Defective Product Design, 83 Cornell L. Rev. 867, 887-901 (1998)]. Notably, while 7. The American Law Institute (ALI), which publishes the Restatement, is a private body that was organized in 1923 and is composed of judges, law professors, and lawyers. See Spencer H. Silverglate, The Restatement (Third) of Torts Products Liability—the Tension Between Product Design and Product Warnings, Fla. B.J., Dec. 2001, at 10, n.1. According to its charter, the ALI’s purpose is “to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice, and to encourage and carry on scholarly and scientific legal work.” Id. About every 30 years, the ALI prepares a new Restatement of the Law of Torts (among other topic areas). Although the restatements do not have the force of law, they traditionally have been influential on the courts of the United States. The reporters of the Third Restatement were Professor James Henderson, Jr., of Cornell Law School and Aaron Twerski of Brooklyn Law School, who were assisted in its preparation by a 20-person advisory committee composed of judges, law professors, and practicing members of the plaintiff and defense bars. Id. - 34 - recognizing that “tort cases are particularly fact-sensitive,” the reporters purported to undertake an “empirical study of case law” to determine whether the alternative-design driven risk-utility general rule has support in the decisional law in a majority of jurisdictions. The reporters commented that: “[t]ort cases are particularly factsensitive and courts are consequently prone to pepper their decisions with dicta and footnotes to allow ‘wiggle room’ for cases that may arise in the future. In contrast to legal treatise writers and restaters who, in synthesizing the law, tend to speak precisely and categorically, courts in their published opinions are more likely to be open-textured and indecisive.” Id. at 888. This approach no doubt fulfills the role of the American Law Institute in its own salutary task of restating and clarifying a view of strict liability that can be reduced to decisive terms. We also respect the effort of the Third Restatement reporters in approaching that non judicial task practically and with humility. But, what drives the Institute and treatise writers does not make comparative modesty, nuance, and reticence in the judiciary mistaken (much less indecisive) in a jurisdiction, like Pennsylvania, where the area, to date, has been the exclusive province of the common law. Tincher, 104 A.3d at 396-97. While the Third Restatement was intended to restate the law as decided by state courts and state legislatures, various courts have criticized its discussion of strict products liability, emphasizing that it “goes beyond the law” because “[r]ather than simply taking a photograph of the law of the field,” the Third Restatement attempts to create a framework for strict products liability by urging the adoption of the reasonable alternative design standard and an exclusive risk/utility analysis, notwithstanding that the majority of jurisdictions in this country do not require a reasonable alternative design in strict products liability actions. Delaney, 999 P.2d at 945-46; see also Potter, 694 A.2d at 1331 (“[O]ur - 35 - independent review of the prevailing common law reveals that the majority of jurisdictions do not impose upon plaintiffs an absolute requirement to prove a feasible alternative design.”). For example, Florida is counted by the reporters as having adopted the “risk/benefit” test for design defect cases and implicitly requiring proof of a reasonable alternative design. See Restatement (Third) of Torts: Prods. Liab §2(b), Reporters’ Note, cmt. d (1998). In support, the reporters rely on Radiation Technology, Inc. v. Ware Construction Co., 445 So. 2d 329 (Fla. 1983), as the “leading case” in Florida for these legal principles. But this reliance is misplaced because Radiation Technology was not a strict liability case—the legal issue before the Court involved a jury instruction in a negligence action. Radiation Tech., 445 So. 2d at 331. In fact, in that decision, this Court explicitly noted the adoption of strict liability in West and then referred to the definition of strict liability under the Second Restatement. Id. In considering which approach is in line with our prior strict liability jurisprudence, we are in accord with those state supreme courts that have thoughtfully considered this issue and determined that the Third Restatement’s new approach is inconsistent with the rationale behind the adoption of strict products liability. The Third Restatement is, in fact, contrary to this state’s prior precedent. Decades ago, this Court recognized that the reason behind adopting - 36 - strict products liability was based in part on the policy that “[t]he manufacturer, by placing on the market a potentially dangerous product for use and consumption and by inducement and promotion encouraging the use of these products, thereby undertakes a certain and special responsibility toward the consuming public who may be injured by it.” West, 336 So. 2d at 86. Thus, in approaching design defect claims, we adhere to the consumer expectations test, as set forth in the Second Restatement, and reject the categorical adoption of the Third Restatement and its reasonable alternative design requirement. The important aspect of strict products liability that led to our adoption in West remains true today: the burden of compensating victims of unreasonably dangerous products is placed on the manufacturers, who are most able to protect against the risk of harm, and not on the consumer injured by the product. Increasing the burden for injured consumers to prove their strict liability claims for unreasonably dangerous products that were placed into the stream of commerce is contrary to the policy reasons behind the adoption of strict liability in West. Adopting the definition of design defect advanced by the Third Restatement would frustrate these policy concerns. As the Supreme Court of Wisconsin recognized: Where a manufacturer places a defective and unreasonably dangerous product into the stream of commerce, the manufacturer, not the injured consumer, should bear the costs of the risks posed by the - 37 - product. Because 2(b) unduly obstructs this equitable principle, we refuse to adopt 2(b) into Wisconsin law. Green, 629 N.W.2d at 752. Further, a manufacturer plays a pivotal role in crafting the image of a product and establishing the consumers’ expectations for that product, a portrayal which in turn motivates consumers to purchase that particular product. The consumer expectations test thus rightly focuses on the expectations that a manufacturer creates. The Third Restatement’s risk utility test shifts away from this focus and, in fact, imposes a higher burden on consumers to prove a design defect than exists in negligence cases—the exact opposite of the purposes of adopting strict products liability in the first place. The consumer expectations test does not inherently favor either party. In fact, manufacturers have at times sought application of the consumer expectations test over the risk utility test, such as in cases involving tobacco products or where a danger was open and obvious. See Larry S. Stewart, Strict Liability for Defective Product Design: The Quest for A Well-Ordered Regime, 74 Brook. L. Rev. 1039, 1059 n.33 (2009). While we conclude that the Third Restatement’s risk utility test and establishment of a reasonable alternative design mandate are not requirements for finding strict liability, we note that nothing precludes the plaintiff in proving his or her case from showing that alternative safer designs exist—or for that matter - 38 - precludes the defendant from showing that it could not have made the product any safer through reasonable alternative designs. The Third Restatement, while rejecting the consumer expectations test as an independent basis for defining strict liability design defect, also provides that a “broad range of factors may be considered in determining whether an alternative design is reasonable and whether its omission renders a product not reasonably safe under this provision, including, among others, the magnitude and probability of the foreseeable risks of harm, the instructions and warnings accompanying the product, and the nature and strength of consumer expectations regarding the product, including expectations arising from product portrayal and marketing.” Am. L. Prod. Liab. 3d § 28:3. In this regard, we conclude—as did the Supreme Courts of Kansas, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—that the plaintiff is not required, but is permitted, to demonstrate the feasibility of an alternative safer design and that the defendant may present evidence that no reasonable alternative design existed, while also arguing in defense that the benefit of the product’s design outweighed any risks of injury or death caused by the design. See Delaney, 999 P.2d at 944; Tincher, 104 A.3d at 397; Godoy ex rel. Gramling v. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 768 N.W.2d 674, 686 (Wis. 2009). - 39 - As the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania explained, allowing evidence of a reasonable alternative design is different than mandating evidence of a reasonable alternative design as part of the plaintiff’s burden of proof: That evidence of the existence and specifications of an alternative design is relevant and even highly probative to prove disputed issues in a products liability case, such as technological feasibility, cost, etc., is certainly true. That the more typical case implicates the type of products and circumstances in which evidence of an alternative product design is the most persuasive and efficient means of convincing the trier of fact may also be true. That offering evidence of an alternative product design may be the preferred legal strategy of the plaintiff’s bar in certain cases—or may be a strategy the defense bar would like to impose on the plaintiff’s bar in certain cases—again may also be true. But, while the reporters’ intuition that meritorious cases are premised upon certain types of evidence may have some general validity and support in practice (and may prove helpful to litigants in articulating claims and preparing defenses), the reporters’ commentary candidly betrays a problem—for the judiciary at least—of perspective. Principally, at least in a climate where suggestions are made along the lines of simply “adopting” or “moving to” a Restatement construct, it is our view that the reporters’ “precise and categorical” perspective insufficiently accounts for the imperatives of the courts’ more modest decisional role, by, for example, describing the reasoned and purposeful articulation of general principles as “dicta.” Tincher, 104 A.3d at 397. In fact, the jury instructions approved by this Court use both the consumer expectations test and risk utility test as alternative definitions of design defect. See In re Std. Jury Instr. in Civ. Cases—Report No. 13-01, 160 So. 3d 869, 871 (Fla. 2015). These alternative definitions have been in effect for over two decades after the Court directed the Committee on Standard Jury Instructions to improve its - 40 - products liability instructions. See Ford Motor Co., 404 So. 2d at 1052 n.4. Significantly, however, there is absolutely no requirement embodied in the Standard Jury Instructions, nor has this Court ever adopted a requirement as set forth in the Third Restatement, that the plaintiff must either present proof of a reasonable alternative design or establish that the product was manifestly unreasonable before the requirement of proof of an alternative design could be excused. We do not direct, at this point, whether the standard jury instructions should be modified in light of this opinion. The parties may, in proving or defending against such claims, present evidence that a reasonable alternative design existed and argue whether the benefit of the product’s design outweighed any risks of injury or death caused by the design. Consistent with our decision in West, we approve the portion of McConnell that applied the Second Restatement, including its holding that correctly focused on the consumer expectations test. We decline to recede from our precedent in West and thus disapprove of the Third District’s decisions in Aubin, Kohler, and Agrofollajes, which adopted and applied the Third Restatement.