FALL FROM CHAIR LEADS TO LAWSUIT

A secretary fell at work when the chair in which she was sitting tipped forward. The chair was a standard secretarial chair with four legs (sometimes referred to by manufacturers as "outriggers") emanating from a central spindle. The outriggers on the chair did not extend as far as the perimeter of the seat. When the secretary bent over to pick up a dropped pen, the chair tipped and the secretary fell and was injured.

She tried to sue the manufacturer, claiming that the chair was defectively designed and dangerous. If the outriggers extended beyond the seat, she argued, the chair would have been much more stable. The manufacturer tried to block the suit by claiming that the secretary was misusing the chair because she had her feet wrapped around the outriggers.

A federal court found that the secretary was entitled to sue the chair manufacturer and to introduce evidence that the manufacturer knew how to make safer chairs. Such evidence was relevant because it would show that the design of longer outriggers was a feasible design and that alternative designs actually existed for secretarial chairs.

Manufacturers can be liable to consumers who are injured while using ordinary products. Where a product is defective and the defect makes it unreasonably dangerous, an injured individual may be entitled to recover monetary damages from the manufacturer. These claims, known as product liability claims, can serve as an incentive to manufacturers to produce safer products.

In determining whether a product is dangerously defective, the courts consider how useful the product is, how available a substitute product could be, and how easily the manufacturer could make the product safer without compromising its usefulness or function and without making it too expensive to manufacture. Courts also look carefully at whether the manufacturer provided suitable warnings or safety instructions with the product.

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