Court Opinion

ID: 9746387
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 14:14:14.991465+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:25:12.679352
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice,
concurring.
I join the majority opinion which holds that evidence of industry standards is inadmissible by a manufacturer in a design defect products liability case under section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. Such evidence is irrelevant to the issue of whether the product left the manufacturer lacking any element necessary to make it safe, and because such evidence would tend to distract the jury from the proper inquiry and would confuse the issue.
The injection of industry standards into a design defect case would be not only irrelevant and distracting, but also, because of the inherently self-serving nature of “industry standards,” would be highly prejudicial to the consumer/plaintiff. By our determination today, we have made it clear that a manufacturer cannot avoid liability to its consumers that it injures or maims through its defective designs by showing that “the other guys do it too.”