Air & Liquid Systems Corp. v. DeVries, Docket 17-1104

Tort Law

Maritime Tort Case

Maritime Law

Navy Veterans

Common-Law Court

Asbestos

Product Manufacturer

Duty to Warn

Liability for Harms Caused by Later-Added Third-Party Parts

Summary: In the maritime tort context, a product manufacturer has a duty to warn when its product requires incorporation of a part, the manu­facturer knows or has reason to know that the integrated product is likely to be dangerous for its intended uses, and the manufacturer has no reason to believe that the product’s users will realize that danger.

In maritime tort cases, we act as a common-law court, subject to any controlling statutes enacted by Congress. See Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, 554 U. S. 471, 507–508 (2008).

Three approaches have emerged on how to apply that “duty to warn” principle when a manufacturer’s product requires later incorporation of a dangerous part in order for the integrated product to function as intended. The first—the foreseeability rule—provides that a manu­facturer may be liable when it was foreseeable that its product would be used with another product or part, even if the manufacturer’s product did not require use or incorporation of that other product or part. The second—the bare-metal defense—provides that if a manu­facturer did not itself make, sell, or distribute the part or incorporate the part into the product, the manufacturer is not liable for harm caused by the integrated product—even if the product required incor­poration of the part and the manufacturer knew that the integrated product was likely to be dangerous for its intended uses. A third ap­proach, falling between those two, imposes on the manufacturer a duty to warn when its product requires incorporation of a part and the manufacturer knows or has reason to know that the integrated prod­uct is likely to be dangerous for its intended uses.

The third approach is most appropriate for this maritime context.

Requiring the product manufacturer to warn when its product requires incorpora­tion of a part that makes the integrated product dangerous for its in­tended uses is especially appropriate in the context of maritime law, which has always recognized a “special solicitude for the welfare” of sailors. American Export Lines, Inc. v. Alvez, 446 U. S. 274, 285.

The maritime tort rule adopted here encompasses all of the fol­lowing circumstances, so long as the manufacturer knows or has rea­son to know that the integrated product is likely to be dangerous for its intended uses, and the manufacturer has no reason to believe that the product’s users will realize that danger: (i) a manufacturer di­rects that the part be incorporated; (ii) a manufacturer itself makes the product with a part that the manufacturer knows will require re­placement with a similar part; or (iii) a product would be useless without the part.

(U.S. Supreme Court, March 19, 2019, Air & Liquid Systems Corp. v. DeVries, Docket 17-1104, J. Kavanaugh)