Winnett v. Winnett

Four-year-old Teresa Kay Winnett (plaintiff) was injured when she placed her hand on the moving conveyor belt of a forage wagon in use on her grandfather's farm. She brought a strict-liability design-defect suit against Helix Corporation (defendant), the wagon's manufacturer. Helix argued it could not reasonably have foreseen that a four-year-old would be allowed near a running forage wagon and would place her hand on the conveyor belt. The circuit court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim; the appellate court reversed; and Helix appealed.

Whether, for purposes of products liability, a user's conduct is reasonably foreseeable only if the occurrence of the conduct was objectively reasonable to expect.