What is the difference between a failure-to-warn claim and a cause of action for design defect based on consumer expectations?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Pankey v. Petco Animal Supplies, Inc., 264 Cal.Rptr.3d 644 (Cal. App. 2020):

The majority opinion recognizes at several points that a cause of action for design defect based on a failure to meet consumer expectations is independent of and analytically distinct from a failure-to-warn claim. (Maj. opn., at pp. 662, 66364.) It likewise appears to acknowledge that a defense verdict on one claim does not preclude a plaintiff's verdict on another theory. (Maj. opn., at p. 667, fn. 17.) But California law makes clear that a "consumer's reasonable expectations are not confined to those arising from information disseminated by the manufacturer or distributor of the product." ( Hufft v. Horowitz (1992) 4 Cal.App.4th 8, 18, fn. 8, 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 377.) Rather, they are informed by a host of other factors that include custom and social practice. This is particularly true with regard to a topic as universal as human interaction with pets. (See generally Bradshaw, The Animals Among Us: How Pets Make Us Human (2017).)

[264 Cal.Rptr.3d 677]

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