Court Opinion

ID: 9529745
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:53:49.318925+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:27:54.404354
License: Public Domain

EUBANK, Judge,
specially concurring:
I concur in the result.
The question of extending § 402A liability to sellers of used products is a growth area in the law. Having adopted § 402A by means of judicial legislation, we are now forced to consider reasonable limits to liability. See Annot., Strict Liability in Tort, Liability of Seller of Used Products, 53 A.L.R.3d 337 (1973). The problem of limits centers around the large industry involved in selling used products: used cars, used plant and shop machinery, farm machinery, secondhand stores, park and swap, want ads, yard sales, etc. (§ 402A exempts occasional sales). Thus, public policy issues directly affecting the economy are involved. These issues are discussed in the cases cited in the above annotation and in this opinion. Another example is Peterson v. Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet Co., 61 Ill.2d 17, 329 N.E.2d 785 (1975) where the Illinois Supreme Court held that strict liability does *316not extend to the seller of used cars. See Annot., 78 A.L.R.2d 460, 484 (1961).
This concern for limits was involved in our opinion in Rix v. Reeves, 23 Ariz.App. 243, 532 P.2d 185 (1975). There we excluded a seller of used truck parts (tire rim) from § 402A liability. It is good law even though the language is broad.
The opinion here is also overbroad in its language. I would limit the opinion to extending § 402A liability to the seller of new and used propane tanks. Further, I agree with the Oregon court in Tillman v. Vance Equipment Co., supra, that purchasers of used products expect less safety than they expect when purchasing a new product.
Finally, our legislature in adopting § 402A by enacting A.R.S. § 12-682, has enacted a two-year statute of limitations. A.R.S. § 12-551. The only exception to the statute is that “no product liability action may be commenced and prosecuted if the cause of action accrues more than twelve years after the product was first sold for use or consumption unless the cause of action is based upon the negligence of the manufacturer or seller or a breach of an express warranty provided by the manufacturer or seller.” This statute has not been tested in our appellate courts. It is certainly an attempt on the part of the legislature to enact limits on § 402A liability.