Product Defects Can Be Proven Based Upon Design Changes Made After the Date of Sale
Because the focus of a strict liability case is on the product, the relevancy of post-manufacture changes is quite germane and necessary for the jury to fairly assess the proffered alternative design and proximate causation.
June 10, 2024 at 11:04 AM
8 minute read
Most consumer products (e.g., cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc.) are used for years. Often, catastrophic injury or death resulting from a design flaw in the product occurs years after the product was sold. In analyzing the flaws in these products and technologically feasible alternative components to remedy the defect and prevent the resulting harm, parties look to design changes incorporated in the same or similar products post-sale. If these design changes are relevant to the claim of defect or causation, this information is ordinarily admissible so long as the design change happened before the accident or before the consumer suffered her injury.
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