Our Two-Part Series in The Legal Intelligencer Scrutinizes the Admissibility of a Product’s Compliance of Industry Standards
This two-part article will discuss the admissibility of a product’s compliance with industry standards at trial in strict products liability actions. The first part provides an overview of the admissibility of industry standards in Pennsylvania before Tincher was decided and then discusses the court’s holding in Tincher, focusing on its overruling of earlier, infamous Pennsylvania cases Azzarello and Lewis. The second part of this article will provide an analysis of cases addressing the admissibility of industry standards after Tincher and argue that defendants in strict products liability cases should now be permitted to introduce evidence of their products’ compliance with industry standards.