§ 32-21 Products Liability - Industry Custom, Usage or Standards

• Library: South Carolina Requests to Charge - Civil (SCBar) (2016 Ed.)

§ 32-21 Products Liability - Industry Custom, Usage or Standards

A manufacturer's violation of the standards of the industry of which it is a part is evidence of negligence.

Industry standards, in the form of codes or manuals issued by voluntary associations, even though lacking the force of law, are proper matters for your consideration and may be evaluated by you as relevant to the defendant's duty of care. However, the evidence of these industry standards is not conclusive.

Did the design of the [name the product! conform to existing industry customs or practices at the time of the initial sale? If you find the industry had established customs or practices relating to [name the product], and that the [name the product] in this case conformed to such customs or practices, then that is a factor for you to weigh in considering whether the plaintiff has carried his burden of establishing by the preponderance or greater weight of the evidence the defectiveness of the product.

See Stonehocker v. General Motors Corp., 587 F.2d 151 (4th Cir.

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