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23 Sw. L. J. 256 (1969)
Products Defective because of Inadequate Directions or Warnings

handle is hein.journals/smulr23 and id is 278 raw text is: PRODUCTS DEFECTIVE BECAUSE OF INADEQUATE DIRECTIONS OR WARNINGS by Dix W. Noel* N RECENT suits for injuries from defective products, plaintiffs have alleged a great variety of dangerous defects, and where negligence is involved, many different kinds of careless conduct. In many of these suits, however, the complaint has been that the product was not accompanied either by adequate directions for use, or by sufficient warning of dangers which might arise during some foreseeable handling of the product. The advent of strict liability in many jurisdictions has not checked this trend, for even where negligence is not required, it still is necessary to allege de- fectiveness, and what often makes a product defective and unreasonably dangerous is the lack of adequate warnings or directions for use.1 This Article will concern the increased requirements in recent years with ref- erence to warnings and directions, both in negligence and strict liability cases. To place this development in the proper setting the present state of general products law will be briefly indicated. I. RECENT GENERAL DEVELOPMENTS IN PRODUCTS LIABILITY It would be difficult to find an area of law expanding as rapidly as that relating to consumer protection from defective products. One aspect of this expansion relates to strict liability. After a period of doubt as to whether negligence could be dispensed with in products cases, an increas- ing number of jurisdictions have decided to accept the Restatement (Sec- ond) of Torts' view that proof of negligence should not be required in the situation described in section 402A.' Under that section a manufac- turer or other person in the business of selling who permits a product to leave his hands in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the consumer or user may be liable to remote users even though he has used all possible care in its preparation and sale. * A.B., LL.B., Harvard University; M.A., Columbia University. Alumni Professor of Law, University of Tennessee. This study has been assisted by a faculty research grant from the Uni- versity of Tennessee. 'The latest comprehensive article on this matter was written in 1955, and deals only with negligence. Dillard & Hart, Products Liability: Directions for Use and the Duty To Warn, 41 VA. L. REV. 145 (1955). This outstanding Article has been cited in hundreds of decisions. '2 RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §§ 402A, 402B (1965). ' Some of the decisions most recently expressing approval of the Restatement view are: O.S. Stapley Co. v. Miller, 447 P.2d 248 (Ariz. App. 1968); Rosignol v. Danbury School of Aeronau- tics, Inc., 154 Conn. 549, 227 A.2d 418 (1967); Dealer's Transp. Co. v. Battery Distrib. Co., 402 S.W.2d 441 (Ky. 1966); McCormack v. Hankscraft Co., 278 Minn. 322, 154 N.W.2d 488 (1967); State Stove Mfg. Corp. v. Hodges, 189 So. 2d 113 (Miss. 1966), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 912 (1967); Webb v. Zern, 422 Pa. 424, 220 A.2d 853 (1966); Olney v. Beaman Bottling Co., 220 Tenn. 459, 418 S.W.2d 430 (1967); Ford Motor Co. v. Lonon, 217 Tenn. 400, 398 S.W.2d 240 (1966); McKisson v. Sales Affiliates, Inc., 416 S.W.2d 787 (Tex. 1967); Shamrock Fuel & Oil Sales Co. v. Tunks, 406 S.W.2d 483 (Tex. 1966); Dippel v. Sciano, 37 Wis. 2d 443, 155 N.W.2d 55 (1967); cf. Schenfeld v. Norton Co., 391 F.2d 420 (10th Cir. 1968) (applying Colorado law).

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