 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Couch v. Astec Industries6/19/2002
y is against public policy. We acknowledge that courts in other jurisdictions differ on the question of whether to recognize such a duty. See Lisa Anne Meyer, Annotation, Products Liability: Manufacturer's Postsale Obligation to Modify, Repair, or Recall Product, 47 A.L.R.5th 395 (1997). However, our Supreme Court's adoption of UJI 13-1402 suggests that New Mexico law follows the path of those courts recognizing that a product supplier has a continuing duty of ordinary care to avoid a risk of injury if it knows or should know that such risk is caused by the supplier's product. Because the Supreme Court has not addressed this uniform jury instruction in any reported case, we have the authority to consider whether the instruction is a correct statement of the law. State v. Wilson, 116 N.M. 793, 796, 867 P.2d 1175, 1178 (1994). We are not persuaded that UJI 13-1402 is erroneous.
Defendant has not directed us to any New Mexico law questioning the duty set forth in UJI 13-1402, and we have found none. Consequently, we consider this duty in the same light we would consider any other duty in negligence law. "The ultimate question is whether the law should give recognition and effect to an obligation from one person to another." Gabaldon v. ERISA Mortgage Co., 1997-NMCA-120, 21, 124 N.M. 296, 949 P.2d 1193, rev'd on other grounds, 1999-NMSC-039, 128 N.M. 84, 990 P.2d 197. This legal question is a policy determination guided by "consider[ation] the relationship of the parties, Plaintiff's injured interests, Defendant's conduct in light of those interests, and other principles comprising the law." Madrid v. Lincoln County Med. Ctr., 121 N.M. 133, 141, 909 P.2d 14, 22 (Ct. App. 1995).
The courts refusing to recognize post-sale duties generally do so because they believe such duties would inhibit manufacturers from developing innovative safety technology and improving their designs for fear of the expensive and onerous process required to find and warn all past purchasers of a product, or, even more costly, to retrofit the product. See, e.g., Douglas R. Richmond, "Expanding Products Liability: Manufacturers' Post-Sale Duties to Warn, Retrofit and Recall," 36 Idaho L. Rev. 7, 22-23, 60 (1999); Gregory v. Cincinnati Inc., 538 N.W.2d 325, 337 (Mich. 1995) ("imposing a duty to update technology would . . . discourage manufacturers from developing new designs if this could form the bases for suits or result in costly repair or recall campaigns"); Kozlowski v. John E. Smith's Sons Co., 275 N.W.2d 915, 923-24 (Wis. 1979) ("It would place an unreasonable duty upon these manufacturers if they were required to trace the ownership of each unit sold and warn annually of new safety improvements over a 35 year period."). However, critical to the decisions in these cases was the fact that the plaintiffs in most instances claimed that manufacturers must warn customers or retrofit products as technology advances or as industrial practices develop, even if the technology or practice did not exist at the time of manufacture. See, e.g., Modelski v. Navistar Int'l Transp. Corp., 707 N.E.2d 239, 247 (Ill. App. Ct. 1999) (refusing to recognize post-sale duties that "would be the equivalent of mandating that manufacturers insure that their products will always comply with current safety standards"); Gregory, 538 N.W.2d at 336 (rejecting a manufacturer's "duty to modify its product in accordance with the current state of the art safety features"); Tabieros v. Clark Equip. Co., 944 P.2d 1279, 1301 (Haw. 1997) (refusing to impose on a manufacturer a "continuing duty to retrofit its products, subsequent to their manufacture and sale, with post-manufacture safety devices that were unavailable at the time of manufacture").
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 New Mexico Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
By using the system, you agree to TERMS OF SERVICE
|