monday, november 21, 1977
daily nebraskan
Lawyer: consumers favored
in suits citing product defects
By Brian Zdan
A consumer drinking out of a soda pop
bottle who finds a dead mouse at the
bottom will encounter few roadblocks to
recovery if he sues the. bottler, an authority
in products liability said at the UNL
College of Law last week.
Page Keeton, former dean of the Uni
versity of Texas law school said despite
the trend toward greater legal protection
for injured consumers, he always holds his
bottle up to the light before drinking from
it. He was referring to an actual products
liability case, one of several he mentioned
in his speech as guest lecturer of the Nel
son, Harding, Marchetti, Leonard & Tate
law firm.
Keeton also is a past president of the
American Association of Law Schools and
a co-author of a widely-used law textbook.
He described two categories of product
defects for which manufacturers and mer
chants may be liable if the defects cause
injury to the purchaser.
Unintentional flaw
One category is the unintentional flaw,
which occurs during production but which
is placed on the market. He. said examples
include an air bubble" in an automobile tire
which later causes a blow-out or the dead
mouse in the soda bottle.
Keeton said another source of product
liability is design defect. A defectively de
signed product may be dangerous even
though it comes off the assembly line with
no unintended flaws.
It has not always been easy for a consu
mer to use the courts to recover compen
sation for injury, Keeton observed. Until
recently, a manufacturer could escape lia
bility simply by giving the buyer notice, in
an owner's manual, that the product might
be hazardous. Nor could an injured con
sumer expect to be compensated if the de
fect leading to the injury was obvious, he
added.
Now the consumer will prevail in court
if he can show the danger in the product
design outweighs its benefit. Keeton said
in the case of an unintended flaw, the con
sumer may recover damages if the defect
causing the injury existed when the
product was sold.
Air bubble example
The former dean gave the example of
an air bubble in a tire which caused a blow
out and accident on the. highway. The de
fect may have developed at the tire factory,
or while the dealer mounted the tire on the.,
consumer's car, he said.
In modern law,, the consumer dpes not
need to show which party caused the de
ft ct, he said. If it can be proved the tire
was defective when purchased, the con
sumer can expect to win the case, he said.
Keeton said he thinks manufacturers
should be kept to a high care standard be
cause they have the power to control in
juries by making products safer.
Regardless of whether building a safer
product would be impractical, manufac
turers should be liable for all injuries
caused by their defective goods, he said.
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Phqto by Tim Ford
Surprise! 01' Whelan's in the race
Nebraska's Lt. Gov., Gerald Whelan, stated his desire to step up next year in
announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for governor. Whelan
began his tour on the steps of the Capitol Friday before flying to Hastings,
North Platte, Scottsbluff and Omaha.
Whelan pledged to run a Mfun" campaign.
The Chuck
Pennington Trio
BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND . . . playing all
your favorites now through December 3 in the
Clayton House Lounge.
The Gay ton House Restaurant & Lounge
CUylon Mouk lower l.rvrl lOih & "()" Strreii iluwnmwn Lincoln Free parking for dinner ut
Serving BreakJiM. Lunch tml Dinner daily
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THEATRE ARTS
REYNARD THE FOX
Arthur Fauquez
Nov. 29, 30, Dec. 1, 2, 3, 4,
Studio Theatre
For all your
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Bridal Shoppe
2441 N. 48th
466-7603
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Tickets: $3 & H
1 2th & R
472-2073
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Donate some blood for those in need
RED CROSS BLOODfTIOeiLE
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10 am -4pm 9am-2pm Rec Cross.
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