Summary: Dorsey attorneys Richard Silberberg, Christopher Karagheuzoff and Robert Manson consider in The New York Law Journal the concept of product defect manifestation in the class action context. While widespread consumer complaints about alleged inherent defects of a product might seem to present a plaintiff's dream scenario, the doctrine of defect manifestation has foreclosed such actions in case after case.
Silberberg et al. describe how courts around the country have held that product defect class actions seeking economic damages must be rejected where the alleged defect has failed to manifest in either (1) the product(s) acquired by the named plaintiff(s), or (2) most of the products acquired by putatitive class members. Read the full article here.
"Product Defect Suits and Failure to Manifest" was published by The New York Law Journal, May 19, 2008. Republished with permission.