When Sellers of "Safe" Products Turn Ostrich in Relation to Dangerous Post-Sale Components

Alani Golanski, Weitz & Luxenberg, P.C.

Abstract

This article tackles a products liability issue that is currently raging in litigations nationwide, especially in the asbestos context. Although tort reform attempts to preclude the seller's liability for dangerous post-sale components under the no-duty-to-rescue doctrine, that effort is misguided, and ignores legal doctrine and marketplace realities. Fairness and efficiency policy factors also warrant the imposition of failure-to-warn liability upon product sellers who implicitly or explicitly endorse (via foreseeability in a financially advantageous context, or actual inclusion of the later-replaced dangerous parts) ultrahazardous post-sale component parts.