Troja v. Black & Decker Manufacturing Co.

Facts

Robert Krohn hired Michael Troja (Plaintiff) to build a bar. Plaintiff borrowed Krohn’s radial arm saw manufactured by Black & Decker Manufacturing Company (Defendant). Plaintiff and Krohn removed the saw from its metal base and stand in order that it could be carried from the basement to the work site. The saw’s guide fence and metal base were left behind. Without its base, Plaintiff placed the saw directly on the floor and rigged a makeshift guide fence by securing an aluminum level to the saw with clamps. Plaintiff was attempting to make a cross-cut, guiding the wood with his hand, when the saw slipped and amputated Plaintiff’s finger. The instruction manual accompanying the saw properly explained how to execute a cross-cut. Plaintiff sued Defendant for strict products liability. At trial, Plaintiff presented an expert who would have testified that an alternative to Defendant’s saw could have been manufactured so that the unit would not work if the guide fence was not in place. The trial court refused to allow the expert’s testimony and ruled that Plaintiff had failed to produce any legally sufficient evidence of an alternative radial arm saw design or the existence of the technology necessary to produce such a product in 1976, the year that the saw was made. The trial judge granted Defendant’s motion for a directed verdict on the defective design portion of Plaintiff’s strict liability count and Plaintiff appealed.