Warranties and Product Liability

1. Warranties and Product Liability Express Warranties Written or Oral Statements of Opinion or Value�usually not a warranty Martin Rispens v. Hall Farms Advertising: Puffery? Scheuler v. Aamco Transmissions Klages v. General Ordinance Equiptment

2. Warranties Descriptions = Warranty Singer v. EI du Pont Models=Warranty Disclaiming Express Warranty: obvious, bold, easy to read �As is� Sales: no warranty

3. Warranties Statement must be �basis of bargain� P must actually rely Reliance must be justifiable In re GM Brake Product Liability Litigation Daughtery v. Ashe

4. Implied Warranties Implied Warranty of Merchantability Sale of Goods Seller is Merchant Nature of Warranty Average or medium grade Pass w/o objection in the marketplace Adequately packaged and labeled Conforms to promises made on labeling

5. Implied Warranties Goodman v. Wenco Foods Webster v. Blue Ship Tea Room Dennis v. Allison

6. Implied Warranties Imp. Warranty of Fitness for A Particular Purpose Seller has knowledge of Buyer�s Purpose Seller aware of Buyer�s reliance on Seller�s judgment Actual Reliance on Seller�s judgment

7. Implied Warranties Dempsey v. Rosenthal Catania v. Brown Disclaimer: strictly construed against Seller

8. Strict Liability 402A Restatement of Torts Merchant Neveaux v. Park Place Hospital Sale of a Product Physical Harm Reaches User w/o Substantial Change Porchia v. Design Equipment

9. Elements of Strict Liability Defect in Product Manufacturing Design (will discuss later) Failure to Warn Necessity of Warning Brown v. Sears & Roebuck Daniel v. Ben E. Keith

10. Failure to Warn Sufficiency of Warning Cooley v. Carter-Wallace Martin v. Bengue, Inc. Warning to Replace Safe Design? Hansen v. Sunnyside Products Uniroyal v. Martinez

11. Design Defect Unreasonably Dangerous beyond Expectation of normal consumer Utility of product vs. magnitude of risk Reasonable available safe alternative Ability to make safe w/o impairing usefulness User�s relative awareness of risk Expectations of Ordinary consumer

12. Design Defect Hernandez v. Tokai Corp Air Bag cases Design Defect must be proximate cause of P�s injury

13. Post Sale Liability Subsequent Discoveries Duty to Repair Duty to Warn Perkins v. Emerson Electric Noel v. United Aircraft Co. Duty to Recall Sayles v. Vancom, Inc. Conduct of Recall` Recall Letter as Evidence of Defect?

14. Liability Among Channel Members Manufacturer: primarily liable Distributor/Wholesaler: Santarelli v. BP America Retailer: Welkener v. Kirkwood Drug Stores Gonzales v. Carmenita Ford

15. Channel Member Liability con�t Component Manufacturer Foreseeability of Use Warning Expertise of intermediary/purchaser Use of a Trademark Kealoha v. DuPont

16. Channel Member Liability con�t Licensor: Torres v. Goodyear Burkert v. Petro Plus Carter v. Joseph Bancroft and Sons

17. Defenses Unavoidably Unsafe Assumption of Risk Awareness of risk Appreciation of nature of risk Voluntarily Assumed Sargia v. Skil Corp Mercurio v. Nissan Motor Seat Belt Defense Texas Law

18. Defenses Obviousness of Hazard Reasonable Person Maneely v. GM Knowledgeable Purchaser Doctrine Smith v. Walter Best, Inc.

19. Defenses User Misconduct Used in an Unintended Manner Not Reasonably Foreseeable to D Larue v. National Union Electric Daniell v. Ford Simple Carelessness: negligently failing to discover or guard against the defect Keen v. Ashot GM v. Sanchez