In a typical product liability suit one who designs, manufacturers or sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer is subject to liability for physical harm caused to the user or consumer. The liability claim can be grounded in strict liability and also negligence. An issue sometimes arises in situations where the defective condition causes injury not to the user or consumer rather to a bystander. In the case of Valk Mfg. Co. v. Rangaswamy 74 Md. App. 304 (1987) the Court of Special Appeals addressed strict liability asserted by a bystander, plaintiff. In this case the plaintiff was killed in a car accident. The plaintiff's counsel argued his client's death could have been avoided had the arms of a snow bucket assembled to the front of a truck been removed prior to the impact. Testimony indicated the assembly was not easily removable as design. As such, the workers who had completed all of their snow removing responsibilities failed to remove the fixture and subsequently crashed into the plaintiffs vehicle. Unfortunately the fixtures projecting forward from the front of the vehicle pierced through the plaintiffs passenger side window making contact with this person and causing his death. The plaintiffs successfully argued that the projecting arms enhanced the injury and could have been removed with little effort had the assembly been properly designed. In fact the plaintiff produced an expert to testify that the fix to the design was as simple as a quick disconnect hose. The importance to the plaintiff's case in proceeding on strict liability was the elimination of the defendants claim to contributory negligence. You see in a strict liability claim the only defense a defendant can raise is assumption of risk.
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