In products liability actions, plaintiffs use prior consumer complaints as evidence that a defect existed or that the defendant ignored a known defect. Precluding these prior consumer complaints is important to the defense, because this evidence has significant potential to prejudice the jury and lead to the imposition of liability in cases where plaintiffs have failed to produce sufficient proof of a defect. For these reasons, defendants must challenge the admissibility of prior consumer complaints. Defendants should argue that the communications are not substantially similar to the facts, circumstances and defects claimed in the case at issue (and are, thus, not relevant), and are inadmissible hearsay.

It is well settled under the Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence that to establish the threshold relevance of each consumer complaint, it is the plaintiff’s burden to demonstrate that the circumstances involved in the prior incident and the alleged defect are substantially similar to the facts, circumstances and defects presented in the given case, as in Blumer v. Ford Motor, 20 A.3d 1222 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2011), appeal denied, 2012 Pa. LEXIS 1743 (Pa. Aug. 8, 2012). The theory underlying the plaintiff’s defect claim determines whether and to what extent the proffered consumer complaints involve substantially similar circumstances. This is accordingly a very fact-specific inquiry. For this reason, defendants should insist upon an evidentiary hearing where the court analyzes each consumer complaint individually and the plaintiff is required to prove the facts, circumstances and defects claimed in each individual consumer communication are substantially similar to those in the case at issue.

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]