Phipps v. General Motors Corp.
Court of Appeals of Maryland
363 A.2d 955 (1976)
Phipps (plaintiff) crashed his GM-manufactured (defendant) car into a tree after the accelerator stuck, and sued GM on a strict-liability theory; GM moved to dismiss, arguing Maryland had never adopted strict products liability in tort and that the doctrine was redundant with the Maryland UCC's warranty provisions and better left to the legislature. The federal district court certified the adoption question to Maryland's highest court.
Whether a plaintiff seeking recovery under strict products liability must establish that the product was defective when it left the seller's control, unreasonably dangerous to the user, a cause of the injury, and reached the consumer without substantial change in condition.