Court Opinion

ID: 9623610
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 06:37:51.83967+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:32.124648
License: Public Domain

HOWE, Justice,
concurring and dissenting:
As a general proposition, I agree with the majority that the court of appeals correctly stated that
in cases in which it cannot be demonstrated what the plaintiff would have done had he or she been adequately warned, the plaintiff should be afforded a rebuttable presumption that he or she would have followed an adequate warning had one been provided.
House v. Armour of Am., Inc., 886 P.2d 542, 553 (Utah.Ct.App.1994). Such a presumption is founded on the human experience that if a person is properly warned about the dangers associated with the use of a product, he or she will generally heed the warning.
However, that presumption has no application in the instant case where we hold that there is a disputed question of fact as to whether Lt. House or the arrest plan anticipated rifle fire from the Singer house. Obviously, if rifle fire was not anticipated, a warning that the vest would not contain rifle fire might well not have been heeded. Certainly, it cannot be “presumed” that such a warning would have resulted in the SWAT team’s changing its plans. To the contrary, any “presumption” ought to be that any such warning would be disregarded because persons generally do not heed warnings about dangers to which they do not anticipate being exposed.
ZIMMERMAN, C.J., concurs in Justice HOWE’s concurring and dissenting opinion.