Opinion ID: 1219560
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Text: In 1982, ANSI promulgated design standards for baling machines. One of the standards at issue requires that the machine have an interlocking safety guard, meaning that the machine cannot function without the guard in place. Enterprise claims that its baler was interlocking, but it bases this claim on a pre-1982 definition of interlocking, instead of the ANSI definition. The court below excluded evidence of the new standards because they did not exist when the manufacturer sold the machine, and therefore did not reflect the state of the art at that time. Legislative or administrative regulatory standards are admissible as evidence of a product's safety. Falk v. Keene Corp., 113 Wash.2d 645, 782 P.2d 974 (1989) (evidence of compliance with regulatory standards for asbestos products is relevant to the burden on the manufacturer to design a safe product); Walker v. Maxwell City, Inc., 117 Ill.App.3d 571, 73 Ill.Dec. 92, 453 N.E.2d 917 (1983) (ANSI standards for motorcycle helmet admissible whether promulgated before or after the helmet was made). Enterprise argued that standards promulgated after the baler was sold should be inadmissible because Enterprise could not have complied with a standard not yet in existence. However, Enterprise could offer evidence of the relevant dates, and thereby give the jury full knowledge of the surrounding circumstances. ANSI standards set design guidelines for manufacturers. The ramifications for failing to comply with a standard varies depending on the product and the nature of the industry. Enterprise could rebut any false presumptions a standard raises by informing the jury of the date the institute promulgated the standard, or by showing that the industry did not adhere to the standard when Enterprise sold the baler. However, these issues should go to weight, and not admissibility of the industry or regulatory standards themselves. Seward v. Griffin, 116 Ill.App.3d 749, 72 Ill.Dec. 305, 452 N.E.2d 558 (1983). In Seward, the trial court admitted federal motor vehicle standards even though some were newer than the vehicle. The appellate court appropriately left to the jury the determination of whether the manufacturer could have been expected to adhere to the equivalent of the standard. Id. 72 Ill.Dec. at 315, 452 N.E.2d at 568. In addition, post-manufacture industry standards are circumstantial evidence that alternative courses of conduct may have been available to an entire industry. D.L. By Friederichs v. Huebner, 110 Wis.2d 581, 329 N.W.2d 890 (1983). In Huebner the court admitted evidence of post-manufacture industry standards which required manufacturers to include safety features on forage wagons. Id. 329 N.W.2d at 896. In finding that a whole industry may have been producing a defective product, the court stated, the question is not whether anyone else was doing more, although that may be considered, but whether the evidence discloses that anything more could reasonably and economically be done. Id. at 907 (quoting Hancock v. Paccar, Inc., 283 N.W.2d 25, 35 (Neb.1979)). The best way to determine if a defendant should have built a safer product is to let the jury hear all the evidence relating to the course of conduct of both the industry, and the particular manufacturer.