The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed field and recently dismissed the appeal of a closely watched failure-to-warn case alleging harmful asbestos exposure.  Bugosh v. I.U. North America, et al., No. 7 WAP 2008 (S.Ct. Pa. June 16, 2009).

One of the key issues presented by the case was whether Pennsylvania product liability law would change from its current unique form of somewhat extreme strict liability to the more mainstream Third Restatement approach to the issue of liability for  product sellers.

The divided ruling  by the Court involved the claim of a deceased mesothelioma patient, Edward Bugosh, whose widow had been awarded $1.4 million in damages by a jury in the trial court.  I.U.  North America was a non-manufacturer distributor named in the wrongful death suit, based solely on its predecessor’s sale of a small amount of asbestos-containing products.

Traditional products liability law in the state is based on Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts, and finds that every party in the distribution chain is strictly liable for any product defect in the product they sold. The Third Restatement treats intermediate sellers differently than manufacturers. Specifically, while under current law, liability can be imposed on manufacturers, retailers and distributors for injuries caused by products with manufacturing, design, or informational defects, regardless of whether a defendant acted reasonably in the preparation and sale of the product at issue, the appeal sought to persuade the state Supreme Court to adopt the approach of Section 2 of the new Restatement, which would require plaintiffs to prove that a defendant acted unreasonably.

The dismissal order finds review was improvidently granted, but gives no further reason.  Speculation centers on this status of the defendant as an intermediate seller, rather than as an actual manufacturer.  The Court may have felt that this was not the best context to consider a major change in the law.

The case drew tremendous interest, with amici on the appellant’s side to include the Pennsylvania Defense Institute, the Product Liability Advisory Council, Inc., Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, Coalition for Litigation Justice, Inc., Chamber of Commerce of the United States of
America, National Association of Manufacturers, NFIB Small Business Legal Center, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors, American Tort Reform Association, American Insurance Association, Property and Casualty Insurers Association of America, National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, American Chemistry Council, and the Washington Legal Foundation.

This result arguably leaves Pennsylvania law very much muddled, as recently the Third Circuit predicted that Pennsylvania would adopt the Third Restatement. See Berrier v. Simplicity Manufacturing, Inc., 563 F.3d 38 (3d Cir. 2009).  In state court, the traditional Pennsylvania version (based on Azzarello v. Black Brothers Co., 391 A.2d 1020 (Pa. 1978)) of strict liability prevails, while the federal courts may be following Berrier to apply the Third Restatement in diversity cases based upon Pennsylvania law.

Plaintiff had argued that a return to a fault-based system would unfairly increase the plaintiffs’ burden of proof, and adoption of the Third Restatement would reduce the incentive to product manufacturers and suppliers to distribute safer products.

In a sharply worded dissent to the dismissal, two justices called the current law severely
deficient, particularly when measured against developed understanding and experience, and argued that necessary adjustments are long overdue. The current distinctions that Pennsylvania law makes between negligence and strict liability have no place in any scheme purporting to recognize that manufacturers and distributors are not outright insurers for all harm involving their products.