Opinion ID: 2461163
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: alcoa as designer

Text: Whether a designer who is not a manufacturer has a duty to warn of hazards associated with the use of its designed product has not before been addressed by this court. A manufacturer has long been held to have a duty to exercise ordinary care in the design of a product. Gonzales v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 571 S.W.2d 867 (Tex.1978). A designer who is not also the manufacturer should share the same duty to develop a safe design. Alcoa has a duty to exercise ordinary care in the design of its closure system. In fact, Alcoa does not dispute that it owes Alm a duty to design its closure system in a non-negligent way. A manufacturer, as well as all suppliers of a product, also has a duty to inform users of hazards associated with the use of its products. Restatement (Second) of Torts § 388 (1965); Olivarez v. Broadway Hardware, Inc., 564 S.W.2d 195 (Tex.Civ. App.Corpus Christi 1978, writ ref'd n.r. e.). There is no reason to distinguish a designer, who has intimate knowledge of a designed product, from a retailer, wholesaler or manufacturer. Alcoa designed the closure system. It is the failure of that system which caused Alm's injury. There can be no justification for requiring a user of Alcoa's closure technology to warn of its hazards while not holding Alcoa to the same duty. The issue in a negligent failure to warn case is simply whether a reasonably prudent person in the position of the designer would warn of hazards associated with the designed product. Alcoa had a duty to warn of the hazards associated with its closure technology if a reasonably prudent person in the same position would have warned of the hazards.