Barker v. Lull Engineering Co.
Supreme Court of California
573 P.2d 443 (Cal. 1978)
Ray Barker (plaintiff), an inexperienced high-lift loader operator, was injured using a Lull Engineering (defendant) loader to lift timber on terrain and in a manner the machine wasn't designed for, after losing control and failing to escape falling timber. Barker argued the loader was defectively designed for lacking seat belts and other safety features, though evidence at trial suggested such features would have actually made the loader more dangerous, and Barker's inexperience was largely to blame for the accident. The jury was instructed that design-defect strict liability requires finding the product "unreasonably dangerous for its intended use," and returned a verdict for the defendants.
Whether a product is defective in design if it fails to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect when used in an intended or reasonably foreseeable manner, or if the benefits of the challenged design do not outweigh its inherent risk of danger.