Owner-Authorized Handguns A Workshop Summary (2003) / Chapter Skim
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Session 2: Liability Concerns
Session 2: Liability Concerns
Pages 25-38
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From page 25... ...
MANUFACTURING DEFECTS Manufacturing defects are quality control failures. Ten thousand tires come off an assembly line; because quality control measures failed, one has 25
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Manufacturing defects are relatively rare, and such cases constitute a small percentage of product liability litigation. DESIGN DEFECTS Design defects account for a much larger percentage of liability litigation.
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Fischer said. Recall is required when mandated by a government agency, though many companies recall defective products to prevent injuries even in the absence of a mandate.
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Some cases suggest that, under certain circumstances, if a product fails to perform its manifestly intended function, the failure can be inferred to be the result of a defect. If, for example, the steering in a new car fails without warning, and the car hits a tree, one can probably infer that this happened because of a defect
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WARNING DEFECTS The final theory of product liability is the warning theory, which essentially requires reasonable care on the part of the manufacturer. A good warning has three components.
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If the government were to mandate owner-authorized safety devices, it might also implement a scheme to shield manufacturers from civil liability. Manufacturers would favor this, but it might be hard to achieve politically.
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Manufacturers are right to be seriously worried about product liability exposure if they are asked to market products that are not currently reliable and that pose a risk to users and to the general public. Laws that require the incorporation of unreliable technology in handguns, Mr.
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Mr. Keane noted that there is a bill before Congress intended to prevent what he called Frivolous" lawsuits brought by the Brady Center and other groups against the firearms industry for the criminal misuse of handguns.4 A number of firearms manufacturers sell products that incorporate built-in, or internal, locking devices.
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Arthur Bryant, the executive director of Trial Lawyers for Public lustice (TLPl) , a national public interest law firm, said TLPT has never been involved in gun litigation or taken a position on any gun-related issues.
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Bryant said, if litigation over existing technologies not smart guns, which may be way off in the future leads to similar quick changes in the gun industry. The threat of liability can affect innovation, Mr.
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Dennis Henigan, director of the Legal Action Project of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, said the tort liability system plays an essential role in bringing about design changes intended to prevent the misuse of guns by children and other unauthorized users. History teaches two lessons about product safety, he said.
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From page 36... ...
The courts have imposed liability even though the lighters did not malfunction in any way. In Perkins u Wilkinson Sword(, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that a lighter manufacturer may be liable for failing to use a feasible alternative design that would have prevented harm caused by an unintended, but reasonably foreseeable, use of its product.
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From page 37... ...
In a case brought in New Mexico last year, Smith u Bryco Arms, the New Mexico Court of Appeals issuccl a landmark ruling holding that a gunmaker could be held liable for failing to install safety mechanisms in guns to prevent unintentional shootings by minors. The safety mechanisms at issue were a magazine-clisconnect safety and a load inclicator, not an integral locking crevice.
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From page 38... ...
Most people come to precisely the opposite conclusion, he said. lust as we would be appalled if Ford sold cars with no locks, we ought to be equally appalled that the gun industry sells its products without locks.
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