A recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision has reaffirmed the
applicability of strict liability standards under Restatement
Second's §402(a) in products liability cases filed in the
State, and has barred evidence of compliance with industry or
governmental standards to demonstrate that a product was safe and
not defective. While clarifying these issues for trial courts and
litigants, the Court's plurality decision creates a potential
unbalanced playing field for defendant manufacturers relying upon
such standards in the design of their products.
In its recent decision in Sullivan v. Werner, an appeal
involving injuries sustained by a plaintiff when a scaffold on
which he was working collapsed unexpectedly, the Pennsylvania
Supreme Court readdressed its decade-old ruling in Tincher v.
Omega Flex, Inc. and held that in a strict liability design
defect case the appropriate focus needs to remain on the product
itself and not the reasonableness of the conduct of
