Opinion ID: 2635992
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Applicability' to Negligence and Strict Liability Causes of Action

Text: As noted above, although California law recognizes the differences between negligence and strict liability causes of action ( Anderson, supra, 53 Cal.3d at p. 987, 281 Cal.Rptr. 528, 810 P.2d 549), the sophisticated user defense is applicable to both. As amicus curiae Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America et al. observe, our Anderson holding recognizes there is little functional difference between the two theories in the failure to warn context. (See, e.g., Cupp & Polage, The Rhetoric of Strict Products Liability Versus Negligence: An Empirical Analysis (2002) 77 N.Y.U. L.Rev. 874 [noting there is little substantive distinction between negligence and strict liability causes of action in the failure to warn context].) In addition, as noted, Fierro, without discussing the issue in dictum, applied the sophisticated user defense to a strict liability cause of action. ( Fierro, supra, 127 Cal.App.3d at pp. 865, 866, 179 Cal.Rptr. 923.) Likewise, California courts have applied the obvious danger rule to strict liability causes of action. (See Bojorquez, supra, 62 Cal.App.3d at pp. 933-934, 133 Cal.Rptr. 483; Holmes v. J.C. Penney Co., supra, 133 Cal.App.3d at p. 220, 183 Cal. Rptr. 777.) Plaintiff asserts that applying the should have known prong of the sophisticated user defense incorrectly converts his strict liability cause of action into a negligence cause of action. He claims that if we adopt the sophisticated user defense, we should limit its applicability to strict liability failure to warn claims in which a plaintiff had actual knowledge of the danger in question. Anything less, plaintiff claims, would convert his strict liability failure to warn cause of action into nothing more than a cause of action for negligence. We disagree. As plaintiff observes, some states recognize the sophisticated user defense in negligence actions, but reject it in strict products liability cases. (See, e.g., Russo v. Abex Corp. (E.D.Mich.1987) 670 F.Supp. 206, 207 [sophisticated user defense used in negligence cases does not exist under strict liability principles because seller is duty-bound to warn all foreseeable users, even sophisticated ones]; accord, Menna v. Johns-Manville Corp. (D.NJ.1984) 585 F.Supp. 1178, 1184 [sophisticated user defense applicable to negligence claims only; duty to warn cannot depend on plaintiffs knowledge level or sophistication].) As defendant observes, however, the use of a should have known standard does not conflict with principles of strict liability. Strict liability requires `a plaintiff to prove only that the defendant did not adequately warn of a particular risk ( Carlin, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 1112, 56 Cal.Rptr.2d 162, 920 P.2d 1347.) In the context of sophisticated user defense, because the intended users are deemed to know of the risks, manufacturers have no obligation to warn, and providing no warning is appropriate. The focus of the defense, therefore, is whether the danger in question was so generally known within the trade or profession that a manufacturer should not have been expected to provide a warning specific to the group to which plaintiff belonged. Consequently, there is no reason why the sophisticated user defense should not be as available against strict liability causes of action as it is for negligence causes of action. In both instances, the sophisticated user's knowledge eliminates the manufacturer's need for a warning. This approach is consistent with the Restatement Second of Torts, section 402A, which addresses strict liability. Comment j instructs that even in cases of strict liability a seller is not required to warn ... when the danger, or potentiality for danger, is generally known and recognized. (Restatement 2d Torts, supra, § 402A, com. j, p. 353.) In addition, even if the should have known standard is considered more closely aligned with a negligence concept, we have repeatedly held that strict liability products liability law in California may incorporate negligence concepts without undermining the principles fundamental to a strict liability claim. (See e.g., Anderson, supra, 53 Cal.3d at pp. 1002-1003, 281 Cal.Rptr. 528, 810 P.2d 549 [requiring manufacturers to warn of dangers that are known or reasonably knowable]; Daly v. General Motors Corp. (1978) 20 Cal.3d 725, 734, 144 Cal. Rptr. 380, 575 P.2d 1162 [holding that principles of comparative fault apply in strict products liability actions]; Barker v. Lull Engineering Co. (1978) 20 Cal.3d 413, 433, 143 Cal.Rptr. 225, 573 P.2d 443 [adopting risk-benefit test for design defect claims and rejecting claim that test improperly introduces an element that `rings of negligence'].) In Anderson, this court stated that the claim that a particular component `rings of or `sounds in' negligence has not precluded its acceptance in the context of strict liability.... [¶] ... [¶] ... [T]he strict liability defense has incorporated some well-settled rules from the law of negligence and has survived judicial challenges asserting that such incorporation violates fundamental principles of the defense. ( Anderson, supra, 53 Cal.3d at pp. 1001-1004, 281 Cal. Rptr. 528, 810 P.2d 549.) Anderson agreed that failure to warn claims involve some consideration of the defendant's conduct and do not necessarily focus exclusively on the product's condition. The court recognized that [i]t may also be true that the `warning defect' theory is `rooted in negligence' to a greater extent than are the manufacturingor design-defect theories. The `warning defect' relates to a failure extraneous to the product itself. Thus, while a manufacturing or design defect can be evaluated without reference to the conduct of the manufacturer [citation], the giving of a warning cannot. The latter necessarily requires the communicating of something to someone. ( Id. at p. 1002, 281 Cal.Rptr. 528, 810 P.2d 549.)