Opinion ID: 765768
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The elements of a design-defect case under Michigan law

Text: 23 The crux of Hollister's claim is that the shirt that she wore was defective because it was constructed of a fabric that was too highly flammable to be safe. In other words, Hollister argues that the dangerousness of the shirt is attributable to the intentional design decisions of the manufacturer. See Prentis v. Yale Mfg. Corp., 365 N.W.2d 176, 182 (Mich. 1984)(distinguishing design defects from manufacturing defects). 24 In Owens v. Allis-Chalmers Corp., 326 N.W.2d 372, 378-79 (Mich. 1982), the Michigan Supreme Court held that a plaintiff in a design-defect case must present evidence of the magnitude of risks involved, and the utility and relative safety of proposed alternatives, in order to overcome the defendant's motion for summary judgment. The forklift operator in Owens was killed when the forklift he was driving overturned and pinned him beneath it. His wife argued that the forklift was defective because it lacked seatbelts. In granting a directed verdict for the defendant, the court stated that the plaintiff could not prevail because she had not shown that the presence of a seatbelt would have rendered the forklift safer. See id. 25 In Prentis, the Michigan Supreme Court built upon Owens and explicitly adopted a so-called risk-utility test for determining a manufacturer's liability. See Prentis, 365 N.W.2d at 186 (Thus we adopt, forthrightly, a pure negligence, risk-utility test in products liability actions . . . where liability is predicated upon defective design.). The risk-utility analysis focuses upon whether a manufacturer would be judged negligent if it had known of the product's dangerous design at the time it was marketed. Id. at 183. 26 In Reeves v. Cincinnati, Inc., 439 N.W.2d 326 (Mich. App. 1989), a worker whose hand was crushed in a power press that unexpectedly cycled sued the press's manufacturer on a design-defect theory. Reeves demonstrated that sudden cycling of power presses was common and that injury resulting from such cycling could occur. He further presented evidence that a guard installed in front of the press would prevent injuries such as the one he had incurred, and that such guards only cost about $1 each. On the other hand, he did not provide evidence as to any costs that might be associated with redesigning the presses to accommodate the guards, or the exact statistical likelihood of injury. See id. at 329-30. 27 In reversing a directed verdict for the manufacturer, the Michigan Court of Appeals stated that the plaintiff had presented sufficient evidence to raise a question of fact for the jury as to the reasonableness of the power press's design. See id. at 330. The Reeves court succinctly articulated the following elements of a prima facie design-defect case under Michigan law: 28 [A] prima facie case of a design defect premised upon the omission of a safety device requires first a showing of the magnitude of foreseeable risks, including the likelihood of occurrence of the type of accident precipitating the need for the safety device and the severity of injuries sustainable from such an accident. It secondly requires a showing of alternative safety devices and whether those devices would have been effective as a reasonable means of minimizing the foreseeable risk of danger. This latter showing may entail an evaluation of the alternative design in terms of its additional utility as a safety measure and its trade-offs against the costs and effective use of the product. 29 Id. at 329 (citing Prentis). 30 This court has previously applied the Owens, Prentis, and Reeves analysis in a design defect case under Michigan law. See Zettle v. Handy Mfg. Co., 998 F.2d 358, 360 (6th Cir. 1993) (holding that the plaintiff had failed to present sufficient evidence concerning the effectiveness of a proposed alternative design in a products liability action against the manufacturer of a power washer). 31 In the present case, Hollister has sued the distributor of the shirt, not its manufacturer. The manufacturer of the shirt remains unknown. A distributor's liability is the same as that of the manufacturer in a design-defect case. See Gregory v. Cincinnati, Inc., 538 N.W.2d 325, 339 (Mich. 1995). 32