Injured In Utah

Products liability is probably best recognized in suits such as fen-phen, the Ford Explorer/Bridgestone rollover cases, the cigarrette lawsuits and asbestos litigation. Products liability in Utah is founded on the belief that corporate manufacturers lack the social consciousness necessary to produce safer products, despite advancing production and development techniques. Holding manufacturers accountable for producing defective products improves the safety of products and prevents unecessary injury to individuals. Were it not for products liability law, manufacturers might save the dollar or two necessary to incorporate a simple and effective safety switch so that they can realize a greater profit at the expense of often devastating injuries to individuals. The Utah Supreme Court has stated that:

The modern experience with consumer products has been one of ever improving technology and rising standards of living, but also of injury and death: Americans -- 20 million of them -- are injured in the home each year from consumer products. Of the total, some 100,000 are permanently disabled and some 30,000 are killed. A significant number could have been spared if more attention had been paid to hazard reduction... The exposure of consumers to unreasonable consumer product hazards is excessive by any standard of measurement.

Berry v. Beech Aircraft Corp., 717 P.2d 670 (Utah 1985).