Court Opinion

ID: 9580430
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:04:52.878843+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:16.477987
License: Public Domain

Currie, C. J.
(concurring). I fully concur in the court’s opinion. This opinion makes it crystal clear why the rule of strict liability in products-liability cases laid down in sec. 402A of Restatement, 2 Torts 2d, which this court now adopts, is not a rule of absolute liability. This is wholly apart from any consideration of such defenses as contributory negligence or assumption of risk.
Strahlendorf v. Walgreen Co. (1962), 16 Wis. 2d 421, 114 N. W. 2d 823, did not turn on the issue of privity, the court holding that the toy was safe when properly used. This was the reason why six of the seven members of the court held it was an inappropriate case in which to consider adopting the rule of the Restatement. More than five years were to elapse before a case did present itself in which it was appropriate to consider the issue, and that occurred with the appeal of the instant order.