In most states, product liability is based on the concept of strict liability. Strict product liability dictates that any manufacturer, distributor, dealer, retailer, or seller is liable for a defective product that causes injury. Alabama, on the other hand, does not adhere to strict product liability. It has adopted the Alabama Extended Manufacturers Liability Doctrine. Simply put, “a defendant will be liable … if it manufactures, designs, or sells an unreasonably dangerous product that reaches the consumer substantially unaltered and, because of its unreasonably dangerous condition, injures the consumer when put to its intended use.”Beam v. Tramco, Inc., 655 So.2d 979, 981 (Ala. 1995).
Innocent Sellers
Sellers of products are typically not involved in the design and manufacture of a product. Under strict liability concepts, a seller would be liable without actual proof of fault in the design and manufacturing process. Alabama has adopted innocent seller statute found at Ala. Code 6-5-521 (1975). That statute provides some insulation for sellers when they had no role in the design or manufacture of the product at issue.
(b) No product liability action may be asserted or may be provided a claim for relief against any distributor, wholesaler, dealer, retailer, or seller of a product, or against an individual or business entity using a product in the production or delivery of its products or services (collectively referred to as the distributor) unless any of the following apply:
(1) The distributor is also the manufacturer or assembler of the final product and such act is causally related to the product’s defective condition.
(2) The distributor exercised substantial control over the design, testing, manufacture, packaging, or labeling of the product and such act is causally related to the product’s condition.
(3) The distributor altered or modified the product, and the alteration or modification was a substantial factor in causing the harm for which recovery of damages is sought.
Unidentifiable Manufacturers
What happens when the manufacturer can’t be identified, but the plaintiff knows where he purchased it? The statute allows an innocent seller to be sued in this situation. However, if the seller is able to identify the manufacturer, the plaintiff must voluntarily dismiss the seller:
(c)… if a claimant is unable, despite a good faith exercise of due diligence, to identify the manufacturer of an allegedly defective and unreasonably dangerous product, a product liability action may be brought against a distributor, wholesaler, dealer, retailer, or seller of a product, or against the individual or business entity using a product in the production or delivery of its products or services. The claimant shall provide an affidavit certifying that the claimant, or the attorney therefore, has in good faith exercised due diligence and has been unable to identify the manufacturer of the product in question.
Ala. Code 6-5-521 (1975). This puts some burden on the seller to conduct due diligence and identify the seller in its sales history. That issue is currently pending before the Alabama Supreme Court in Larry Lang v. Cabela’s Wholesale, LLC (1200851). Lang was injured when a tree stand fell. He could identify the manufacturer and sued Cabela’s under section (d) of the statute. Cabela’s was later able to identify the manufacturer and gave that name in discovery and via affidavit. The Alabama Supreme Court is reviewing the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Cabela’s. No decision has been published to date.
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