Opinion ID: 2297606
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Appropriate Focus of Risk-Utility Balancing

Text: In terms of the appropriate focus of design defect risk-utility analysis, for many of the reasons identified by Appellee, we decline to limit it to a particular intended use. For better or worse, this Court's decisions have relegated our trial courts in the unenviable position of social philosopher and risk-utility economic analyst. This having been doneand as the present case does not provide an appropriate opportunity for reconsideration of such assignmentwe decline to require the trial courts to put on blinders. It should be enough to say that a product's utility obviously may be enhanced by multi-functionality, so that it would be imprudent to deny trial courts the ability to assign some weight to this factor in assessing product design. Cf. supra note 14. Moreover, Appellant simply does not address why the other theories which may be available to a plaintiff, such as failure to warn, do not provide sufficient protection against deficient marketing and instruction practices. In this void, it is difficult to disagree with Appellee's observation that Appellant's concessions of the net social utility calculus in the area of the endocutter's primary design (endoscopic surgery) are irreconcilably inconsistent with his claim of an inherent design defect. [15] We are sensitive to the difficulty faced by plaintiffs in proving product defect, particularly where, as here, the instrument in issue has been destroyed by others. In numerous ways (such as by way of acceptance of malfunction theory), this Court has acted to alleviate that burden. We also must bear in mind, however, that there is much at stake in the condemnation of a product's design, above and beyond any individual damages award or awards, including the impact on product costs and design innovation. [16] On balance, we differ with Appellant's position that the desire to streamline a particular facet of products litigation should be accorded priority over the wider-ranging assessment which was obviously intended from the outset, as manifested in the above characterizations of the trial court's role, in the open-ended factors which have been accepted by Pennsylvania courts as the basis for risk-utility review, and otherwise.