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A boater taking his new powerboat out on a large lake ran out of gas because of a defective seal in the gas tank. The defect was not discoverable by an ordinary inspection. His frantic signaling alerted the captain of a sightseeing boat passing by. The captain pulled up alongside to assist and attempted to restart the boat. A spark ignited a pool of gas that had leaked from the gas tank and collected in the lower part of the boat, causing an explosion and fire. The captain was severely burned and died from his injuries. The captain's estate brought a wrongful death action based on strict liability against the powerboat dealer and the manufacturer. Evidence at trial established that the dealer had sold the manufacturer's boats for years without any problems reported by customers.
Can the captain's estate recover any damages from the dealer?
A. Yes, unless the jury finds that the boater was negligent in failing to investigate where the gas had gone.
B. Yes, because harm to someone in the captain's position was a foreseeable result of the gas leak.
C. No, because the dealer had no reason to anticipate that the manufacturer assembled the gas tank improperly.
D. No, because the captain did not have a sufficient relationship to the boater to make the dealer liable for the captain's death.

Respuesta :

The correct statement for the given condition is given by option (B): "Yes, because harm to someone in the captain's position was a foreseeable result of the gas leak".

What is Strict Product Liability?

The strict liability rule in product liability claims asserts that a seller, distributor, or maker of a defective product is accountable for another person's harm - regardless of what effort he or she did to ensure the product's flaw never occurred.

In the given case, the reason for the recovery for damages from the dealer is-

  • Because the captain was a foreseeable bystander and the dealer is a business supplier, the captain's estate can claim from the dealer under strict products liability.
  • Only the amount that the dead could have obtained in a personal injury case if he had lived is admissible in a wrongful death action.
  • Because the dealer is a commercial provider of the boat and is liable if it supplied a product that was so defective as to be unreasonably dangerous, the captain may have collected from the dealer in a products liability lawsuit based on strict liability.
  • The flaw in the gas tank assembly was extremely dangerous since it allowed gas to leak out and collect in places where it could be ignited.
  • The debilitating impact of the gas leak made it likely that someone passing by would come to the boater's aid, bringing them into the danger zone of the leak (i.e., danger invites rescue).

Therefore, the explosion caused by the leak was both the direct and indirect cause of the captain's death. As a result, the captain's estate can sue the dealer for damages.

To know more about the limitation of doctrine of strict product liability, here

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