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Case Notes

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
January 30, 2013

Highly Reckless Conduct as An Affirmative Defense

On Nov. 26, 2012, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania handed down a decision in Reott v. Asia Trend, Inc., et al., Nos 27-30 WAP 2011, slip op. (Pa. Nov. 26, 2012), that changes the way defendants in product liability actions must plead and prove an affirmative defense of highly reckless conduct as the sole or superseding cause of plaintiff's injury.

The Reott case involved a manufacturing defect in the locking strap of a tree stand used for hunting. Mr. Reott owned two identical tree stands manufactured and/or sold by the defendants, both with locking straps designed to secure the stand to the tree. Evidence at trial demonstrated that the locking strap for the first tree stand was both glued and stitched together, while the locking strap on the second stand was only glued. Mr. Reott used the first tree stand numerous times without incident. However, when he installed the second tree stand using what was described as a “self-taught maneuver” to set the stand securely and take any slack out of the locking strap, the strap that had no stitching broke, and Mr. Reott fell to the ground, sustaining significant injury.

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