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Strict liability does not mean absolute liability. The plaintiff must still prove that a recognized strict-liability doctrine applies, that the relevant danger or defect caused the injury, that the injury falls within the appropriate scope of risk, and that legally compensable harm occurred.
Possessors of wild animals are generally strictly liable for harm resulting from dangerous characteristics typical of the animal. Reasonable care does not ordinarily eliminate liability for those characteristic risks.
Domestic animals ordinarily create strict liability only when the owner knows or has reason to know of a dangerous tendency abnormal for that type of animal. The traditional “one-bite rule” does not literally require a prior bite.
Abnormally dangerous activities may produce strict liability when they create a high risk of severe harm, reasonable care cannot eliminate the danger, the activity is uncommon, the location is inappropriate, and the dangerous attributes outweigh community value. Classification is context-specific.
Strict liability for abnormally dangerous activities extends only to the type of harm that makes the activity abnormally dangerous.
Defective products may create liability under strict products liability, negligence, warranty, and misrepresentation theories.
Strict products liability generally requires a defective product supplied by a commercial seller, a defect existing when the product left the defendant’s control, no substantial relevant alteration before injury, causation, and legally cognizable harm.
A manufacturing defect exists when a particular unit departs from its intended design. The plaintiff compares the individual product with properly manufactured units.
A design defect concerns the product line as designed. Courts may use consumer expectations, risk-utility balancing, or a reasonable-alternative-design requirement.
The consumer-expectation test asks whether the product is more dangerous than an ordinary consumer reasonably expects. Risk-utility analysis compares the probability and severity of harm with product utility, alternative designs, cost, consumer knowledge, and ability to avoid danger.
Some modern approaches require proof of a technologically and economically feasible alternative design that would reduce foreseeable harm without destroying reasonable product utility.
A warning defect may exist when a product lacks adequate instructions or warnings concerning foreseeable nonobvious risks. Adequate warnings should be understandable, visible, specific, prominent, and appropriately directed. Warning causation must also be shown.
The key lesson for Saturday is that strict liability removes the ordinary requirement of proving unreasonable conduct, but it does not remove disciplined analysis. The student must still identify the precise source of strict liability, the relevant defect or abnormal risk, causation, damages, and any applicable defense.ℹ️ INFORMATION, PRIVACY POLICY & TERMS OF USE ℹ️
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