HSB 508

This bill relates to civil liability in product liability actions. The bill defines the term “product liability action” to mean any action brought against a manufacturer or seller of a product, regardless of the substantive legal theory or theories on which the action is brought, for or on account of personal injury, death, or property damage caused by or resulting from the manufacture, construction, design, formulation, installation, preparation, assembly, testing, packaging, warning, labeling, or sale of any product, the failure to warn or protect against a danger or hazard in the use, misuse, or unintended use of any product, or the failure to provide proper instructions for the use of any product. The bill expands the protections of product liability for nonmanufacturers to include a person who leases or rents a product, removes the strict liability in tort or breach of implied warranty of merchantability standard, and provides protection for damages from an alleged defect or negligent action or inaction in packaging, warning, or labeling of a product. _____ include negligent action or inaction in the design testing, manufacturing, formulation, packaging, warning, or labeling of a product. The bill also includes additional defenses for an assembler, designer, supplier of specifications, distributor, manufacturer, or seller for damages arising from an alleged defect or negligent action or inaction in packaging, warning, or labeling of a product, if the product bears or is accompanied by visible warning or instruction that is safe for use if the warning or instruction is followed. The bill provides a rebuttable presumption for a product that causes harm that the product was not in a defective condition that is unreasonably dangerous and that the manufacturer or seller thereof was not negligent, if at the time the product was first sold or leased any of the following are true: (1) the product’s formula, manufacture, design, labeling, warning, or instructions complied with mandatory safety statutes, standards, or regulations adopted by the federal or state government or an agency of the federal or state government that were applicable to the product, (2) the product was subject to premarket licensing or approval by the federal or state government or an agency of the federal or state government, the seller complied, and the product was approved or licensed for sale, or (3) the product was a drug or medical device approved for safety and efficacy by the United States food and drug administration, and that the product was in compliance with such approval when the product left control of the seller.