Court Opinion

ID: 9569584
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:15:21.605404+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:03:33.975245
License: Public Domain

Ringold, A.C.J.
(dissenting) — My difference with the majority is narrow but deals with a fundamental issue. I therefore dissent. The majority concludes that instruction *738No. 12 correctly set out Connor's burden of proof as to defective design. In my view the instruction imposed upon Connor, contrary to Washington law, an additional burden of persuasion.
Proof of an alternate design is not a prerequisite to recovery in a strict products liability action, although the feasibility of minimizing or eliminating the risk is a factor bearing on the issue of consumer expectations. Seattle-First Nat'l Bank v. Tabert, 86 Wn.2d 145, 542 P.2d 774 (1975). In Washington a manufacturer is liable for injuries caused by a product which is "unsafe to an extent beyond that which would be reasonably contemplated by the ordinary consumer." Tabert, at 154. Proof of an alternate design is but one way of showing that a product is not reasonably safe. Instruction No. 13 set out a list of factors for the jury's consideration, including working conditions, the gravity of the potential harm, the function of the product, and the manner in which the injury occurred. The court in Tabert listed the relative cost of the product as an additional factor, and purposely left the list open-ended to accommodate other factors which could become relevant. As a general proposition, while proof of an alternate design may be sufficient to prove that a product is not reasonably safe, such proof is not essential to recovery. One can readily conceive of a product design so unsafe and so lacking in utility that its manufacturer would be deemed liable even without a showing as the court required in instruction No. 12 "that there was . . ..a feasible and practical alternate design which, more likely than not, would have prevented the accident which resulted in plaintiffs injuries."
The majority concludes, however, that it was not error here to require plaintiff to prove the existence of an alternate design, because the plaintiff "assumed" this burden by introducing "a plethora" of evidence tending to show the existence of an alternate design. It is unclear to me just how Connor can increase his burden of proof — the burden of persuasion — merely by going forward with evidence, plethora or not. While proof of an alternate, safer design *739would certainly help establish liability, the plaintiff should not be precluded from proving liability using only the other factors set forth above.
The majority asserts that requiring Connor to prove the existence of an alternate design did not enlarge his burden of proof, citing Garcia v. Joseph Vince Co., 84 Cal App. 3d 868, 148 Cal. Rptr. 843 (1978). This California case upon which the majority builds its argument is a slim reed indeed. Although under California law the reasonableness of alternative designs is part of the plaintiff's burden of proof, Baker v. Chrysler Corp., 55 Cal. App. 3d 710, 127 Cal. Rptr. 745 (1976), Washington has rejected the California approach to strict products liability. The court in Tabert analyzed the language of Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A (1965), which predicates liability on a finding that a product is "in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer". Noting that California had rejected the "unreasonably dangerous" requirement, in favor of "defective condition", the court in Tabert went in the opposite direction: "If a product is unreasonably dangerous, it is necessarily defective. The plaintiff may, but should not be required to prove defectiveness as a separate matter." Tabert, at 154.
The court in Tabert adopted a test based on consumer expectations, listing "the cost and feasibility of eliminating or minimizing the risk" as but one factor which "may be relevant" to a determination of consumer expectations. Id. To require a plaintiff in Washington to prove the existence of a feasible design alternative is to enlarge the burden of proof.
In summary, the jury was required to read instruction No. 9, defining the burden of proof pursuant to WPI 21.01, with instruction No. 12, i.e., the jury was required to find that it was "more probably true than not true" (instruction No. 12) "that there was available to the defendants a feasible and practical alternate design which, more likely than not, would have prevented the accident which resulted in plaintiff's injuries." Instruction No. 12. The instructions, *740read together, enlarged the plaintiff's burden of proof. To paraphrase Tabert, a plaintiff may, but should not be required to prove a feasible and practical alternative design. Instruction No. 12 was, therefore, erroneous.
Nor may this error be characterized as harmless. We have no way of divining the specific reasons underlying the jury's verdict for the defendant. If the jury concluded that Connor met the burden of proof except for his failure to prove the existence of a design alternative as required by the erroneous instruction, then the error was prejudicial.
For the foregoing reasons, I would reverse and remand for a new trial.
Reconsideration denied February 5, 1982.
Review granted by Supreme Court April 23, 1982.