Court Opinion

ID: 9760878
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:21:12.123631+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:18.226427
License: Public Domain

SCHREIBER, J.,
concurring and dissenting.
Until today, the existence of a defect was an essential element in strict product liability. This no longer is so. Indeed, the majority has transformed strict product liability into absolute liability and delegated the function of making that determination to a jury. I must dissent from that conclusion because the jury will not be cognizant of all the elements that should be considered in formulating a policy supporting absolute liability, because it is not satisfactory to have a jury make a value judgment with respect to a type or class of product, and because its judgment will not have precedential effect.
Our Court adopted the principle in the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A (1965) that the seller of a product in a “defective condition unreasonably dangerous” (we have substituted the language not reasonably safe) is subject to liability for harm to the ultimate user or consumer. See Suter v. San Angelo Foundry & Mach. Co., 81 N.J. 150, 176 (1979); Cepeda v. Cumberland Eng’g Co., 76 N.J. 152, 168-69 (1978). A plaintiff had to prove *193that the chattel that caused his injury was defective. There had to be something wrong with it. As Dean Wade reminds us, the word “defective” was added to the Restatement language “to ensure that it was understood that something had to be wrong with the product.” Wade, “On the Nature of Strict Tort Liability for Products,” 44 Miss.L.J. 825, 830 (1973).
What is a defect? Defects fall within three categories. A flaw in the particular product, such as an improper weld, is one class. A second group consists of design defects. Here there must be a showing that there was an alternative, technologically feasible design available at the time the product was designed. See Suter, 81 N.J. at 171-72; Wade, “On Product ‘Design Defects’ and Their Actionability,” 33 Vand.L.Rev. 551, 573 (1980). The third class, which is closely analogous to the second, involves inadequate warnings and instructions. In a technical sense this does not involve a defect in the product. However, in the absence of reasonable warnings of the dangers of the product and instructions on its use to avoid dangerous consequences, the product is not reasonably safe. The failure to include adequate literature is functionally equivalent to a failure to design properly in that an alternative adequate warning could have been given.
In design defect and inadequate warning cases the product is produced as intended by the manufacturer, but is wanting in another respect. Further, both have some incidents of negligent conduct. In both, the question is whether a manufacturer, assuming his knowledge of the dangerous propensity of the product, acted as a reasonably prudent person in designing the product as he did in light of existing alternatives or in giving the warning that he did.
In addition to establishing Jiat the product was defective because of the flaw, design, or inadequate warning, the plaintiff has the burden of proving that the product with its defect was not reasonably safe, fit and proper. One way this burden can be met is by proving a failure to measure up to consumer expectations.
*194In deciding whether a case should be submitted to the jury, a court must engage in a risk-utility analysis. The purpose of this analysis is to enable the court to determine whether the issues (existence of a defect, reasonable safety, and causation) should be submitted to the jury or whether as a matter of law, even though a defect exists, the cause for strict product liability should be dismissed because of public policy. Note in Justice Clifford’s concurring opinion that he quotes approvingly from Judge Conford’s “lucid treatment of the subject in Cepeda.” Ante at 189. Judge Conford observed that risk-utility analysis is to be utilized by the court to determine whether liability is to be precluded as a matter of law. Judge Conford did not say the court should or could also decide that there was liability as a matter of law.
My research has disclosed no case where liability was imposed, utilizing the risk-utility analysis, as a matter of law for an accident ascribable to a product in the absence of a defect (manufacturing flaw, available alternative, or inadequate warning) other than in the absolute liability context. This Court has sometimes held as a matter of public policy that the cause should not be submitted to the jury because the utility of the product outweighed the risks. Illustrative situations are cases such as Brody v. Overlook Hospital, 66 N.J. 448 (1975) (holding, as a matter of policy, hospital not liable for blood used in transfusion that was infected with hepatitis); Baptista v. St. Barnabas Medical Center, 109 N.J.Super. 217 (App.Div.) (refusing to hold hospital accountable on the basis of implied warranty or strict liability in tort for injuries resulting from transfusion of incompatible blood), aff’d o.b., 57 N.J. 167 (1970); and Magrine v. Krasnica, 94 N.J.Super. 228 (Hudson County Ct.1967), aff’d sub. nom. Magrine v. Spector, 100 N.J.Super. 223 (App.Div.1968) (refusing to hold dentist strictly liable for harm caused by defective hypodermic needle), aff’d on both opinions below, 53 N.J. 259 (1969). Cf. Newmark v. Gimbel’s Inc., 54 N.J. 585, 596-97 (1969) (distinguishing Magrine and holding that *195beauty parlor may be strictly liable for injuries caused by defective permanent wave solution). Risk-utility factors to be considered by the court may be summarized as follows: usefulness of the product, likelihood it will cause injury and seriousness of the injury; availability of safer substitutes; manufacturer’s ability to eliminate the danger; user’s ability to avoid the danger; user’s knowledge of the danger; and feasibility of risk spreading.1
The purpose of strict product liability is to hold a manufacturer responsible for damages attributable to a failure of the product to perform with reasonable safety. It is not to make the manufacturer an insurer against all losses. Montgomery and Owen, “Reflections on the Theory and Administration of Strict Tort Liability for Defective Products,” 27 S.C.L.Rev. 803, 826 (1976). The strict liability policy of encouraging manufacturers to market a safer product is generally inapplicable where the product is unavoidably unsafe. Strict liability arose in part because of a basic presumption that persons not abusing products are not usually injured unless the manufacturer failed in some respect in designing, manufacturing or marketing the product. The strict liability theory was designed to facilitate redress for the injured user or consumer because of the difficulty in proving negligence. This policy is not advanced when imposing absolute liability. See id. at 827-28.
There are occasions where the court has determined as a matter of law because of policy reasons that liability should be imposed even though there is no defect in the product. This is the absolute liability model. The typical example is fixing absolute liability when an ultrahazardous activity causes injury or damage. Liability is imposed irrespective of any wrongdoing by the defendant. McAndrews v. Collerd, 42 N.J.L. 189 (E. & A. 1880). In this situation the ultimate determination is that the *196industry should bear such costs, provided the jury has made the requisite findings on causation and damages.
Factors similar to those used in the risk-utility analysis for products liability are applied in the ultrahazardous activity case. The Restatement (Second) of Torts lists these elements:
§ 520. Abnormally Dangerous Activities In determining whether an activity is abnormally dangerous, the following factors are to be considered:
(a) existence of a high degree of risk of some harm to the person, land or chattels of others;
(b) likelihood that the harm that results from it will be great;
(c) inability to eliminate the risk by the exercise of reasonable care;
(d) extent to which the activity is not a matter of common usage;
(e) inappropriateness of the activity to the place where it is carried on; and
(f) extent to which its value to the community is outweighed by its dangerous attributes.
It is conceivable that a court could decide that a manufacturer should have absolute liability for a defect-free product where as a matter of policy liability should be imposed. Suppose a manufacturer produced toy guns for children that emitted hard rubber pellets — an obviously dangerous situation. A court could reasonably conclude that the risks (despite warnings) outweighed the recreational value of the toy, that the manufacturer should bear the costs and that there should be absolute liability to a child injured by the toy.
The Restatement also cautions that whether an activity is an abnormally dangerous one so that it should be placed in the ultrahazardous category is to be settled by the court, not the jury. In its comment it states:
The imposition of [absolute] liability, on the other hand, involves a characterization of the defendant’s activity or enterprise itself, and a decision as to whether he is free to conduct it at all without becoming subject to liability for the harm that ensues even though he has used all reasonable care. This calls for a decision of the court; and it is no part of the province of the jury to decide whether an industrial enterprise upon which the community’s prosperity might depend is located in the wrong place or whether such an activity as blasting is to be permitted without liability in the center of a large city. [3 Restatement (Second) of Torts § 520 comment 1, at 43 (1965) ]
It is important to note that the risk-utility analysis is not submitted to the jury for the purpose of determining absolute *197liability for a class or type of product. Dean Wade has explained that when a whole group or class or type of a product may be unsafe, “the policy issues become very important and the factors [the seven listed in the risk-utility analysis] must be collected and carefully weighed. It is here that the court— whether trial or appellate — does consider these issues in deciding whether to submit the case to the jury.” 44 Miss.LJ. at 838. Accord Cepeda v. Cumberland Eng’g Co., 76 N.J. at 173-75; Suter v. San Angelo Foundry & Mach. Co., 81 N.J. at 172-73; see Green, “Strict Liability Under Sections 402A and 402B: A Decade of Litigation,” 54 Texas L.Rev. 1185, 1200, 1219 (1976).
When the case is submitted to the jury- in strict liability, the jury must decide whether the product is defective and reasonably safe, not whether as a matter of policy the manufacturer should be absolutely liable. In determining questions of defectiveness and safety, some of the same risk-utility factors may be pertinent.2 However, reference to any one of the factors is to be made only when it is relevant and may be of assistance in deciding whether the product is defective and whether it is not reasonably safe. See Dean Wade’s comment:
Should the jury be told about the list of seven factors which were set forth above? The answer should normally be no... . Occasionally, when one of the factors has especial significance, it may be appropriate for the judge to make reference to it in suitable language. [44 Miss.L.J. at 840]
We observed in Suter:
Although the considerations for the jury are somewhat comparable to those of the trial court, their decisional functions differ. The court decides what protec-’ *198tion should be given and the jury is concerned with reaching a just result as between the parties. [81 N.J. at 178]
In Beshada v. Johns-Mansville Prod. Corp., 90 N.J. 191 (1982), this Court held that a manufacturer was assumed to know of a dangerous condition at the time of manufacture, even though no one in the scientific community had knowledge of that danger. Despite that fact, the manufacturer was deemed to have had a duty to warn of that condition and to be responsible for not having done so. Id. at 209. By denying the state of the art defense, and in effect a warning defense, the Court, relying substantially on “Risk Spreading” and “Accident Avoidance”— elements that would be submitted to a court and not a jury — , sanctioned absolute liability. The Court thereby indicated that the industry should bear the costs of the hazards incident to the use of asbestos, even though there were no defects in the asbestos. Id. at 205-07.
Now. the Court goes one step further and decides that a jury may speculate that, though there is no manufacturing flaw, the duty to warn has been satisfied and the manufacturer could not possibly have designed the item in a safer manner, the manufacturer can be absolutely liable because the jury finds that the risk outweighs the product’s usefulness. It is not appropriate to foresake uniformity of treatment of a class or type of product by permitting juries to decide these questions. Nor is it appropriate for a jury to make this value judgment in addition to resolving factual issues. Unless the jury is to consider the feasibility of spreading the loss and the intricacies of cost avoidance, see Calabresi & Hirschoff, “Toward a Test for Strict Liability in Torts,” 81 Yale L.J. 1055 (1972), the jury will conduct its inquiry in the absence of evidence .of all the elements that should properly be considered in adopting a policy of having the manufacturer spread the loss by setting the price to cover the costs of claims or insurance premiums.
The majority holds that the jury should have been permitted to decide whether the risks of above-ground swimming pools with vinyl bottoms exceed their usefulness despite adequate *199warnings and despite unavailability of any other design. The plaintiff had the burden of proving this proposition.3 Yet he adduced no evidence on many of the factors bearing on the risk-utility analysis. There was no evidence on the extent that these pools are used and enjoyed throughout the country; how many families obtain the recreational benefits of swimming and play during a summer;4 how many accidents occur in the same period of time; the nature of the injuries and how many result from diving. There was no evidence of the feasibility of risk spreading or of the availability of liability insurance or its cost. There was no evidence introduced to enable one to gauge the effect on the price of the product, with or without insurance. The liability exposures, particularly if today’s decision is given retroactive effect, could be financially devastating.
These factors should be given some consideration when deciding the policy question of whether pool manufacturers and, in the final analysis, consumers should bear the costs of accidents arising out of the use of pools when no fault can be attributed to the manufacturer because of a flaw in the pool, unavailability of a better design, or inadequate warning. If this Court wishes to make absolute liability available in product cases and not leave such decisions to the Legislature, it should require that trial courts determine in the first instance as a matter of law what products should be subject to absolute liability. In that event *200the court would consider all relevant factors including those utilized in the risk-utility analysis.
The difference between absolute and strict liability is not one of semantics. Significantly different elements are evaluated by different entities with different standards of review. As used in this opinion, “strict liability” and “absolute liability” signify distinct and separate concepts. Strict liability is imposed where there is a defect in a product due to an individual product flaw, an improper design or an inadequate warning. See supra at 193. Irrespective of strict liability, a manufacturer or other seller may nevertheless be liable in an appropriate case under absolute liability. Absolute liability is imposed where, on the basis of policy considerations including risk-spreading, it is determined that a manufacturer or other seller should bear the cost of injuries he causes to foreseeable users, regardless of the presence or absence of any defect. In some circumstances a manufacturer may be liable though a product is free from defects.
The majority’s view of “strict liability” encompasses both strict liability and absolute liability. Although the majority and I adopt the same formulaic statement that strict liability is imposed only where there is a “defect,” see ante at 180, the majority uses the term to include not only individual product flaw, improper design and inadequate warning cases, but also a fourth category of cases in which the jury decides that the risks outweigh the utility of the product. It follows from the majority’s rationale that a jury may be permitted to find that there is a “defect” whenever there is an accident involving a product.
I join in the result, however. There was proof that the pool liner was slippery and that the vinyl bottom could have been thicker and the embossing deeper. As the majority states, a “fair inference could be drawn that deeper embossing would have rendered the pool bottom less slippery.” Ante at 179. The plaintiff’s theory was that the dangerous condition was the extreme slipperiness of the bottom. Viewing the facts favor*201ably from the plaintiffs frame of reference, I would agree that he had some proof that the pool was incorrectly designed and therefore was defective. This issue, together with causation, should have been submitted to the jury.
Other than as stated herein, I join in the majority’s opinion and concur in the judgment reversing and remanding the matter for a new trial.
CLIFFORD, J., concurring in the result.
For affirmance as modified — Chief Justice WILENTZ, and Justices CLIFFORD, HANDLER, POLLOCK and O’HERN — 5.
Concurring and dissenting — Justice SCHREIBER — 1.

These factors were articulated by Professor Wade, 44 Miss.L.J. at 837-38, and we referred to them in Cepeda and Suter. The majority relies upon them again today.

It is anomalous indeed that the majority relies on the Model Jury Charges and the Practitioner’s Guide. Those documents support the proposition stated above. The Model Jury Charge states only that “the appropriate ‘risk-utility’ factors should be given to the jury.” (emphasis added). The Judicial College material reads:
Note that the jury is not making a risk/utility analysis. It is considering two, or possibly three of the several factors quoted in Cepeda and incorporated by reference in Suter’s explanation of the Court’s role. [W. Dreier & H. Goldman, Products Liability Law in New Jersey: A Practitioner’s Guide — I.C.L.E. 52 (1982) ]

The court has, however, placed the burden of proving compliance with the state of the art on the defendant. Why this should be so is unclear. Our liberal discovery provisions enable a plaintiff to obtain all the information known to the defendant and since the burden of proof of a defect rests with the plaintiff, it is incongruous to shift that burden to the defendant when plaintiff charges that there is a design defect. See 2 R. Hursh & H. Bailey, American Law of Products Liability 2d § 9:17, at 300-01 (1974).

Justice Pashman (then Judge) observed in N.J. Sports & Exposition Authority v. McCrane, 119 N.J.Super. 457, 492 (Law Div.1971), aff’d, 61 N.J. 1, appeal dismissed sub nom. Borough of East Rutherford v. N.J. Sports & Exposition Authority, 409 U.S. 943, 93 S.Ct. 270, 34 L.Ed.2d 215 (1972): “Sports are absolutely essential to the public welfare.”