Practice point: In order to establish a prima facie case based on design defects, the plaintiff must show that the manufacturer or seller breached its duty to market safe products by marketing a product designed so that it was not reasonably safe, and that the defective design was a substantial factor in causing plaintiff's injury. In order to determine whether a product was designed so that it was not reasonably safe, the risks inherent in the product must be balanced against the product's utility and cost. A court will consider factors such as the utility of the product to the public and to the individual user; the likelihood that it will cause injury; the availability of a safer design; the potential for designing and manufacturing the product so that it is safer but remains functional and reasonably priced; the ability of the plaintiff to have avoided injury by careful use of the product; the degree of awareness of the potential danger of the product which reasonably can be attributed to the plaintiff; and the manufacturer's ability to spread any cost related to improving the safety of the design. With regard to the misuse of a product, it may be determined that even with adequate warnings, a product may be so dangerous, and its misuse may be so foreseeable, that the utility of the product does not outweigh the risk inherent in marketing it.
Case: M.H. v. Bed Bath & Beyond Inc., NY Slip Op 07790 (1st Dep't November 9, 2017)
Here is the decision.
