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29 Mercer L. Rev. 465 (1977-1978)
Reasonable Human Expectations: A Normative Model for Imposing Strict Liability for Defective Products

handle is hein.journals/mercer29 and id is 475 raw text is: Reasonable Human Expectations: A Normative Model for Imposing Strict Liability for Defective Products By F. Patrick Hubbard* I. INTRODUCTION This article addresses issues involved in determining what the law-or more particularly, the judicially created common law-concerning product-related injury ought to be. Numerous proposals have been made concerning this issue, and I have discussed many of them elsewhere.' My present concern is to present a three-fold argument: first, law ought to be humanistic in the sense that liability for product-related injuries ought to be apportioned in accordance with reasonable human expectations; sec- ond, existing doctrine conforms to this approach to a considerable degree even though there are significant ways in which the law is not what it ought to be; and finally, where existing law deviates from the expectation ap- proach, it should be changed to conform more closely to this normative conception. The organization of the article follows these three concerns. Part II de- velops a model for resolving products liability cases. This model is based on a view of humans as persons whose plans and expectations are to be respected. From this perspective, product liability issues should be settled in accordance with human expectations. Part III focuses on doctrine and begins with an analysis of Section 402A of the Restatement of Torts (Second) to illustrate the parallels between the expectation model and existing doctrine. Part HI concludes by considering two doctrinal develop- ments-liability of lessors of products and of providers of services-to illus- trate further parallels between doctrine and the model and to indicate cases where reform is suggested by the model. Both parts address certain issues raised in the following paradigmatic case of products liability: Associate Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law. Davidson Col- lege (B.A., 1966); New York University (J.D., 1969); Yale University (LL.M., 1973). The author would like to express his appreciation to Nathan Crystal, Robert Felix, and Ferdinand Schoeman for their helpful comments concerning drafts of this article. 1. See Hubbard, Efficiency, Expectation, and Justice: A Jurisprudential Analysis of the Concept of Unreasonably Dangerous Product Defect, 28 S.C.L. REv. 587 (1977).

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