New rules for product liability litigation are now on the books in Pennsylvania due to the opinions in Tincher v. Omega Flex Inc.. By a 4-2 vote, the Court declined to adopt the Third Restatement of Torts but did knock out a past ruling (Azzarello) on the line between strict liability and negligence, and the related jury instructions. The vote was 4-2 because of the recent resignation of former Judge McCaffery after political and ethical brawls among members of the Court and various other senior state officials.
A “drug and device” view of the opinion (and some apparently deserved gloating) can be found in a November 21, 2014 post at Drug and Device Law blog. A November 20, 2014 post at the TortsProf blog highlighted some key points. I’ve not yet waded through the opinion, which is said to include a lengthy review of the history of product liability law.
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