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The Sophisticated User Defense in Minnesota: Weighing Knowledge
Claims involving a failure to warn are often centered around what a reasonable manufacturer or supplier should have foreseen was necessary to avoid creating an unreasonable risk of harm. If a supplier is deemed to have a duty to warn, the duty can be fulfilled by calling the hazards of the product directly to the attention of the eventual user; for example, through product labeling. Greene v. A.P. Products, Ltd., 691 N.W.2d 38 (Mich.App., 2004). However, when, as is often the case, a product passes through the hands of multiple intermediaries between the supplier and the eventual user, the situation becomes murkier, and it becomes unclear who should shoulder the burden of the duty to warn. This is where the sophisticated user defense comes in.
Under the sophisticated user defense, a supplier has no duty to warn the ultimate user if it has reason to believe that the user will realize its dangerous condition. Gray v. Badger Mining Corp., 676 N.W.2d 268 (Minn. 2004). Different jurisdictions apply the concept in different ways and knowledge of your courts' take on the issue is important. Still, a closer look at how one jurisdiction handled the issue can serve as a jumping-off point for further discussion of the state of the law in other jurisdictions.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent Trolls
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.