Sophisticated User Doctrine
In a hospital, nuclear power plant, and on a construction site, there are numerous products that workers must use to get their job done. Miners must use breathing apparatuses to keep fine dust from entering their lungs. If a miner uses the wrong filter number, or inserts it incorrectly, because her employer failed to instruct her, her lawsuit should be against the employer, not the manufacturer. This is because the employer is a “sophisticated user.”
The sophisticated user has reason to know, through expertise, how to use the dangerous product safely. A sophisticated user has experience, training, professional skills, or legal duties, such that she is expected to know about a product’s potential adverse or hazardous effects.
Under products liability law, manufacturers are responsible for warning end users, whether or not the product goes through several middle people, if the product is dangerous. However, the responsibility to warn transfers to the middle person as a sophisticated user overseeing the use of the equipment.
In recent cases, employers have turned the law around to argue that the employee is a sophisticated user of the dangerous equipment and thus “should have known” what precautions to take. Thus, a well-trained air conditioning technician can be held responsible for his own exposure to refrigerant chemicals and deadly phosphane gas.
In products liability law, if the product is so dangerous that it is considered defective, the manufacturer can be responsible for any injuries that result. However, the sophisticated user doctrine cuts off liability, insulating the manufacturer from strict liability and negligence claims. The doctrine is picking up steam in several states, as businesses and manufactures find new ways to avoid liability.
Consult a Lawyer - Present Your Case Now!
Last Modified: 11-11-2008 03:37 PM PST
