Question

In order to prevail in a lawsuit based upon strict liability in tort for personal injuries resulting from the use of a defective product, one of the elements the plaintiff must prove is that the seller (defendant): (Accounting majors please note this is a previous CPA exam question)
A. Was engaged in the business of selling the product.
B. Failed to exercise due care.
C. Defectively designed the product.
D. Was in privity of contract with the plaintiff.

Answer 1

Answer:

The correct answer is letter "C": Defectively designed the product.

Explanation:

To prevail a claim on product liability, plaintiffs must present clear proof. Two aspects must be reviewed about the proofs so that the position of the plaintiff can be solid: The first of them is what kind of proofs are needed. It will depend on the state where all the issues took place. The second is what kind of recovery theory will be used to expose the proofs. Among the most common we can identify Negligence, Tortious misrepresentation, and Warranty Breach.

In that sense, option "C" is correct because if a given company defectively designed a product though they started to sell it (negligence), it will have liability in the case there was a personal injury in the person who used that product (plaintiff).