Court Opinion

ID: 9567470
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:54:13.209539+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:00:37.816997
License: Public Domain

Prager, J.,
dissenting. I respectfully dissent as to syllabus ¶ 6 and corresponding portions of the majority opinion. My dissent is directed solely to the issue whether the trial court erred in instructing the jury on the definition of “unreasonably dangerous” which appears in Comment i of § 402A of the Restatement of Torts, Second.
As pointed out in the majority opinion, the doctrine of strict liability in the area of products liability was judicially adopted in this state in Brooks v. Dietz, 218 Kan. 698, 545 P.2d 1104 (1976). In recognizing the doctrine, the court relied on the American Law Institute’s revised Restatement of Torts, § 402A, which is quoted in full in the majority opinion. Since Brooks, there have been several other products liability cases decided by the court.
A careful reading of § 402A reveals that, as a condition precedent to strict liability becoming operative in a particular case, the product sold must be “unreasonably dangerous” to the user or consumer. This court has never specifically addressed the question of how that concept should be presented to the jury in a defective design case. We are now faced with that specific problem. The instruction objected to by the plaintiff in the district court was instruction No. 18 which stated as follows:
*655“No. 18
“A product is unreasonably dangerous if it is dangerous to an extent beyond that which would be contemplated by the ordinary consumer who purchases it, with the ordinary knowledge common to the community as to its characteristics.”
This instruction was based on Comment i of § 402A of the Restatement which is quoted in full in the majority opinion. The issue presented has thrust us into the most agitated and vexing controversy in the field of products liability today. The controversy is discussed by Justice Holmes in the majority opinion.
Products liability was first mentioned in a California case in 1944, Escola v. Coca Cola Bottling Co., 24 Cal. 2d 453, 150 P.2d 436 (1944). It was first applied nineteen years later in Greenman v. Yuba Power Products, Inc., 59 Cal. 2d 57, 27 Cal. Rptr. 697, 377 P.2d 897 (1963). In 1965, the American Law Institute (ALI) adopted the philosophy of Greenman in § 402A of the Restatement. Thereafter, jurisdiction after jurisdiction followed the ALI’s lead in recognizing strict liability in tort for product defects. The plaintiff’s burden under the theory was simply to show that a product was defective and in an unreasonably dangerous condition when it left the hands of the manufacturer.
The problem still remained, however, of determining how a plaintiff would show that the product was defective and in an unreasonably dangerous condition. At this point, the consumer expectation test articulated in Comment i to § 402A seemed appropriate. Strict liability was to be imposed only where consumer expectation had been defeated. The consumer expectation test was approved by a number of commentators because it focused on what was then seen as the primary issue in strict liability: Was the product manufactured as it was designed? The test worked remarkably well in cases where the product causing injury was constructed in a manner not in accordance with the manufacturer’s original design. If the machine was structurally weak or if some essential part was left out in construction, then the consumer expectation test took care of the problem. Obviously, a consumer expected a machine to be manufactured in accordance with the way it was designed to be built.
As the law developed, noted commentators in the products liability field began to criticize the consumer expectation standard in cases involving design defects. One commentator called it a nebulous test — a vague and a very imprecise one — because the ordinary consumer cannot be said to have expectations as to *656safety regarding many features of the complexly made products that are purchased, such as the risk of fire from the way gasoline tanks are designed and installed in cars or the magnitude of the risks of cars overturning and the like. Dean John W. Wade, Reporter of the Second Restatement, noted that the consumer expectation test failed because, in many situations, the consumer would not know what to expect, because he would have no idea how safe the product could be made. Some commentators perceived the test as simply requiring that any dangerous product was legally acceptable as long as the ordinary consumer would not be surprised by it. Thus, in a relative short period of time, the consumer expectation test had come into disfavor. The criticism of the commentators naturally resulted in challenging the consumer expectation test in the courts. As noted in the majority opinion, the California Supreme Court was one of the first courts to reject the consumer expectation test. Other jurisdictions soon followed the California approach. The consumer expectation test now appears to have been repudiated in at least twenty-two jurisdictions, although it appears to be viable, at least to some extent, in thirteen jurisdictions. There are a number of jurisdictions where the issue has not yet been addressed.
In determining the basic issue presented in this case, we should first examine carefully the consumer expectation test to determine whether it should be judicially adopted as a part of the tort law of Kansas. This is a policy decision which the court must make. There are no Kansas cases which have directly addressed the issue and established that policy. It is, of course, elementary that any rule of law should be based on reason and justice and not on blind adherence to authority and precedent. Since this court is not bound at this time by precedent, we are free to examine the consumer expectation test and to consider it along with alternative tests which have been suggested. I cannot go along with the adoption of the consumer expectation test because, in my judgment, it will produce injustice, not only to injured consumers, but also to responsible manufacturers. I feel it my obligation to discuss what I believe to be serious defects of the consumer expectation test which make it undesirable for adoption as the test to be used in determining design defect cases under the strict liability doctrine.
Simply stated, the consumer expectation test declares that a *657product is “unreasonably dangerous” if it is dangerous to an extent beyond that which would be contemplated by the ordinary consumer who purchases it. My specific objections to this test are as follows:
(1) The consumer expectation test is not an objective test. In my judgment the ends of justice require an objective test, not a subjective test, in the area of products liability. A subjective test in this field of the law is not really a test at all. It is an unbridled license to the jury to “do good” in the particular case. It has been described as “haphazard subjectivity.” Since it depends on the particular jury’s concept of what may be in the consumer’s mind, the test is bound to produce inconsistent jury verdicts in comparable cases. This is unfair both to injured plaintiffs and to defendant manufacturers.
(2) In determining whether or not a particular product is defective and unreasonably dangerous, the test to be applied by the jury should be focused on the product, not on the consumer’s mind. In applying such a test, objective scientific standards can be utilized while in the consumer expectation test they cannot. As one commentator has suggested, the consumer expectation test creates a built-in tendency to short circuit the analytical process. In fact, it cannot be denied that the consumer expectation test fails to recognize the fact that a particular consumer may not have any knowledge ór expertise whatsoever in the area of manufacturer design.
(3) In weighing the merits of a particular product design, basic justice would seem to require that all parties have the right to have the jury’s attention directed to all relevant factors for their consideration in determining whether the particular product was dangerously defective. The purpose of jury instructions is to inform the jury in such a way that its verdict will be based on a logical analysis of the evidence in the light of established legal principles. In an automobile damage suit, for example, our trial courts in their instructions instruct the jury as to the right of way of the vehicles and a myriad of other duties created by statute which may be applicable in the particular case. Unless a jury is informed as to what factors should be considered in determining whether a product is unreasonably dangerous, there is really no guidance given to the jury at all.
The alternative test which has been adopted in recent years in *658many jurisdictions is a test which focuses on the product rather than on the mind of the consumer. This test has been denominated the “risk-utility balancing” test by some commentators and the “excessive preventable danger” test by others. No matter what the test may be called, it is based on the legal duty of a manufacturer to provide a reasonably safe product. The substantive idea underlying the risk-utility balancing test, as a basis for a finding of defective design, is that a product is defective when designed in a particular way if the risk or danger inherent therein outweigh the benefits. The attractiveness of this charge is attributable to the fact that it directs the attention of attorneys, trial judges, and juries to the necessity of weighing the danger inherent in a particular design against its utility. It is based upon the rationale that the only way to ascertain whether or not a product design is good or bad is to inquire about the danger inherent in it and the justification for this danger.
In my judgment the test which should be submitted to a jury in the trial court’s instructions to assist the jury in determining whether a product is defective and unreasonably dangerous should be in the following form:
A product is defectively designed in some aspect if the product as so designed is unreasonably dangerous. It is unreasonably dangerous as so designed, even though ordinary care is exercised in providing warnings and instructions, if a reasonable person would conclude that the magnitude of the danger of the design as it is proved to be at the trial outweighs the utility of the design.
In determining the magnitude of the danger, you should consider:
(1) the degree of the likelihood of harm from intended and reasonably foreseeable use;
(2) the seriousness of the harm that is likely to result when an injury does happen; and
(3) the obvious nature of the danger and the consequent avoidability of some harm by proper use.
In determining the utility of the design, you should consider:
(1) the importance of the need or needs served by the product and its design;
*659(2) the technical and economic feasibility and practicability of serving those needs with a safer design, and
(3) the availability of other products, if any, to serve the same needs.
In Barker v. Lull Engineering Co., 20 Cal. 3d 413, 431, 143 Cal. Rptr. 225, 573 P.2d 443 (1978), the California Supreme Court stated that in evaluating the adequacy of a product’s design a jury should consider as relevant factors (1) the gravity of the danger posed by the challenged design; (2) the likelihood that such danger would occur; (3) the mechanical feasibility of a safer alternative design; and (4) the adverse consequences to the product and to the consumer that would result from an alternative design.
In recent years the United States Department of Commerce has sought to achieve greater uniformity in products liability law by a proposed model Uniform Product Liability Act (UPLA). This act has been championed by many commentators, including Dean Wade, who suggested that it may be some time before the act is adopted, but that its provisions may, in the meantime, assist the state courts in establishing guidelines for products liability actions. Under UPLA, the five factors to be balanced by a jury in a design defect case are as follows:
(1) The likelihood at the time of manufacture that the product would cause the harm suffered by the claimant;
(2) the seriousness of harm;
(3) the technological feasibility of manufacturing a product designed so as to have prevented claimant’s harm;
(4) the relative costs of producing, distributing, and selling such an alternative design; and
(5) the new or additional harms that may result from such an alternative design.
The trier of fact is required to evaluate these factors as of the time of manufacture, not at the time of trial.
Dean Wade has suggested that not every factor will be appropriate in every lawsuit but has recognized that, where a factor is significant, a jury should be so informed. Wade, On the Nature of Strict Tort Liability for Products, 44 Miss. L.J. 825, 833-34 (1973), and more recently in Wade, On Product “Design Defects” and Their Actionability, 33 Vand. L. Rev. 551, 572-73 (1980).
In my judgment, the majority’s adoption of the consumer expectation test will cause more confusion and uncertainty in the *660law of products liability and make it much more difficult to apply. On the other hand, the adoption of a test directed toward the product rather than the mind of the consumer would result in fairness to all the parties concerned and better serve the needs of justice.
I am further convinced that the adoption of the risk-utility balancing approach in design defect cases would be consistent with Kansas products liability law as recognized in the past and also to the legal concepts contained in the new Kansas Product Liability Act (K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 60-3301 et seq.). As pointed out above, this court adopted strict liability in 1976 in Brooks v. Dietz, 218 Kan. 698. However, in 1971, this court had previously had occasion to consider and determine a case dealing specifically with design defects. That case was Garst v. General Motors Corporation, 207 Kan. 2, 484 P.2d 47 (1971). In Garst, it was contended that the design of the braking and steering systems on a TS-24 Euclid earthmover manufactured by General Motors Corporation was defective. The theory of plaintiff’s case was based on negligence since the doctrine of strict liability had not yet been adopted. In a perceptive opinion which anticipated much of the development of design defect analysis, Justice Schroeder (now Chief Justice Schroeder), speaking for the court, stated:
“In a products liability case where a manufacturer is charged with negligence in the design of his product, the determination as to whether or not a manufacturer has in fact exercised due care in the design of his product requires the consideration of several matters. A significant factor is whether others in the field are using the same design, or a safer design. Other factors to be considered are whether a safer design not yet in use is known to be feasible, and whether in the case of a new product there has been adequate testing.” Syl. ¶ 6.
This opinion is significant because it demonstrates the logic of considering a number of significant factors to be used in determining whether a particular design is defective. It is interesting to note that the Garst opinion has been widely quoted by scholars throughout the country in their attempts to work out the risk-utility balancing test. See Henderson, Judicial Review of Manufacturers’ Conscious Design Choices: The Limits of Adjudication, 73 Colum. L. Rev. 1531, 1557 (1973); Twerski, Weinstein, Donaher, and Piehler, The Use and Abuse of Warnings in Products Liability—Design Defect Litigation Comes of Age, 61 Cornell L. Rev. 495, 529 (1976); Shapo, A Representational Theory of *661Consumer Protection: Doctrine, Function and Legal Liability for Product Disappointment, 60 Va. L. Rev. 1109, 1207 (1974); Henderson, Coping with the Time Dimension in Products Liability, 69 Cal. L. Rev. 919, 923 (1981).
In Jones v. Hittle Service, Inc., 219 Kan. 627, 549 P.2d 1383 (1976), decided subsequent to Brooks v. Dietz, this court reaffirmed its position in Garst that the test in design defect cases is what a reasonably prudent manufacturer would have done. It is significant that Jones came after the adoption of strict liability in Brooks and that plaintiff brought his action under both negligence and strict liability. The language used in Jones is similar to the language contained in the Kansas Product Liability Act (K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 60-3301 et seq.).
The Kansas Product Liability Act in K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 60-3302(c) provides that it covers any “product liability claim,” including claims brought for harm caused by defective design, and includes actions based on strict liability in tort or on negligence or “under any other substantive legal theory.” Under K.S.A. 1981 Supp. 60-3304, the test to be applied in products liability cases is essentially the reasonably prudent product seller test, not a test based upon the consumer’s expectations. The balancing test which I have urged the court to adopt is thus consistent with the rationale of Garst and also that established by the 1981 legislature in the Kansas Product Liability Act.
Before closing, I think it important to point out that there is no language in PIK Civ. 2d 13.21 (1977) or 13.22 which adopts or approves the consumer expectation test as the test to be applied in determining whether or not a product is in an unreasonably dangerous condition. In PIK Civ. 2d 13.21 the term “unreasonably dangerous condition” is defined as follows: “A condition is unreasonably dangerous if it is dangerous when used in the way it is ordinarily used considering the product’s characteristics and common usage.” The record in this case shows that counsel for the plaintiff urged the trial court to give the PIK definition as opposed to the definition based on Comment i of § 402A of the Restatement, which the court in fact gave. The definition contained in PIK Civ. 2d 13.21 is simply not based on the consumer expectation test which was given in instruction No. 18 by the trial court in this case.
*662For the reasons set forth above, I respectfully dissent. I would reverse and remand the case for a new trial.
Miller and Herd, JJ., join in the foregoing dissent.