Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments On Changing Products Liability Law

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether to change the state's products liability law to allow for negligence principles. "The Third Restatement allows arguments on the foreseeability of a product's risk and requires a plaintiff to establish that an alternative, safer design was viable when the product was manufactured, effectively opening the door for defendants to insert issues of negligence into products liability litigation. The Second Restatement focuses litigation on the characteristics of the products, and does not allow a fact-finder to consider the manufacturer's conduct, or the feasibility and practicality of an alternative design," The Legal Intelligencer, Pennsylvania's legal newspaper (and my journalism alma mater), reports.