Section 15.48 Advantages and Disadvantages

• Library: Tort Law 2016

1. (§15.48) Advantages and Disadvantages

In many products cases, the plaintiff may add a count in the petition based on the legal theory of res ipsa loquitur. Applied to a products case, that doctrine allows the jury to infer negligence on the part of the defendant if:

· the incident resulting in injury is of the kind that ordinarily does not occur absent negligence;

· the product causing the injury was under the defendant’s exclusive management and control; and

· the defendant has superior knowledge about the cause of the incident.

See:

· Green v. Plaza in Clayton Condo. Ass’n, 410 S.W.3d 272, 282 (Mo. App. E.D. 2013)

· Mahan v. Mo. Pac. R.R. Co., 760 S.W.2d 510 (Mo. App. E.D. 1988)

· Sirna v. APC Bldg. Corp., 730 S.W.2d 561, 565 (Mo. App. W.D. 1987)

The doctrine is one of general negligence based on circumstantial...