Thursday, April 03, 2008

Johnson v. American Standard (Cal. Supreme Court - April 3, 2008)

"The Restatement of Torts allows a 'sophisticated user' defense; i.e., a manufacturer doesn't have to warn a sophisticated user of its product of particular dangers when such dangers are well-known to such high-level users. Other states allow this defense. The California Court of Appeal has allowed this defense. The federal courts have predicted that the California Supreme Court would allow this defense. We haven't expressly done so yet. But we do so now. Unanimously."

Sometimes your job on the California Supreme Court is merely to confirm that what everyone else is saying about you is correct.