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Products Liability Keyed Owen, 8th Ed.
Nichols v. Union Underwear Co.
Citation:
602 S.W.2d 429 (1980)Facts
Richard Nichols, a four-year-old child, was badly burned while playing with matches when his T-shirt caught fire. Through his father as next friend, he sued Union Underwear Company, Inc., the manufacturer and seller of the shirt, on the basis of strict liability for design defect. The case went to trial in Franklin Circuit Court, where evidence was presented concerning the flammability of the fabric, the risk of clothing-inflicted burns to children, alternative designs and fabrics, consumer awareness of dangers in flammable children’s clothing, the alleged lack of awareness by the child and his mother, and the compliance of the fabric with federal flammability standards. The trial court instructed the jury that a product is “unreasonably dangerous” only if it is dangerous beyond what would be contemplated by an ordinary adult purchaser with ordinary knowledge of its characteristics. The jury returned a verdict for Union Underwear.
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