According to Florida case law, a duty to warn about a defective consumer product like a pressure cooker arises whenever a reasonable person would want to be informed about the risk(s) in order to decide whether to expose himself or herself to it:
We need not detail the other arguments made by Johns-Manville to explain the incriminating evidence adduced by plaintiffs. A duty to warn attaches, not when scientific certainty is established, but whenever a reasonable man would want to be informed of the risk in order to decide whether to expose himself to it. Moran v. Johns-Manville Sales Corp., 691 F.2d 811 (6th Cir. 1982); Borel v. Fibreboard Paper Products Corp., 493 F.2d 1076 (5th Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 419 U.S. 869, 95 S.Ct. 127, 42 L.Ed.2d 107 (1974). Even if the record supports a finding that the medical and scientific community did not appreciate the extent of the risk involved, unanimous agreement among experts as to the hazards posed to insulation workers by asbestos exposure is not a prerequisite to finding that appellees acted recklessly in failing to warn of the health hazards that might be caused by exposure to asbestos; evidence showing that Johns-Manville was “aware of respectable medical authority to the effect that exposure to asbestos posed serious health hazards and yet failed to warn potential users accordingly” is legally sufficient to warrant submission of the punitive damage issue to the jury, “even if there was also evidence showing [Johns-Manville was] simultaneously aware of respectable medical opinion to the contrary.” Martin v. Johns-Manville Corp., 469 A.2d 655, 668 (Pa.Super. 1983). It was the jury’s function to weigh all the evidence and determine its meaning, judge the credibility of witnesses, draw permissible inferences, and reach its verdict based on the law given by the court’s instructions. The various factual considerations here argued by Johns-Manville to explain the incriminating evidence were considered by the jury and obviously rejected. As an appellate court, we could not substitute our view of the evidence for that of the jury even if we were disposed to disagree with the jury’s view thereof. Richards Company v. Harrison, 262 So.2d 258 (Fla. 1st DCA 1972).
See: Johns-Manville Sales Corp v. Janssens, 463 So. 2d 242 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 1984)
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- Product Liability Attorney
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