

Bradford County Court in the News
Athens lawyer attends conference
Workers compensation claim filed against Sayre Borough
Athens attorney Maureen T. Beirne nominated by governor for county judgeship
Press Release: Carrie Carroll Awarded Honor
CraftMaster offering buyouts to its salaried employees in Towanda, Pa
Bradford County launches victim notification system
Bradford County Court House In The News
CNN: What To Do After A Car Accident
Juan Perez filed a lawsuit against Townsend Engineering Company concerning a skinning machine, in which Perez included strict products liability and negligence theories under Pennsylvania law. As trial approached, Perez filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude Townsend from introducing evidence of compliance with industry standards, customs and regulations; specifically, the machine’s conformity with USDA and European standards.
To meet Townsend’s argument that compliance with standards was proper in light of the negligence theory, Perez withdrew that claim. Townsend then argued that it would be unfair to allow Perez to present evidence of available alternative designs for the machine to support the defective design product liability claim, but not allow Townsend to show compliance with standards.
The Court noted that the purpose of a strict liability action is undermined by the introduction of negligence concepts. Perez argued that evidence regarding industry standards injected negligence concepts as those were a reflection of the reasonableness of Townsend’s action and not the state of the product.
The Court relied upon Pennsylvania case law that evidence of industry standards is not admissible in strict liability cases to show the absence of a product defect. Here, since the only claim to be presented to the jury was strict liability under Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, there was no relevance to industry standards.
The Court sustained the motion in limine and ruled that Townsend would not be permitted to present evidence of compliance industry standards for the purposes of demonstrating the lack of a defect in its product.
To see the whole article, go to JudicialView.com.