Question: Susannah decided to trim some branches from the trees in her backyard. She went to the local ACE hardware store and bought a new Craftsman

Susannah decided to trim some branches from the trees in her backyard. She went to the local ACE hardware store and bought a new Craftsman battery-powered chain saw for $85. When she got home she took it out of the box, quickly looked at the instructions and then climbed a ladder to cut off some of the tree branches. She lost her balance and fell off the ladder. The chain saw came into contact with her left hand and cut off two of her fingers (ouch!!). When she was released from the hospital, she consulted an attorney to find out who she could sue to recover for her injuries. Her lawyer told her that he thinks that the chain saw she bought had a design defect because it didnt have a lock-out or 'dead man' switch which would have stopped the chain saw from running when she was not pressing down on the trigger. Assuming this is considered a design defect making the product unreasonably dangerous, who can be held liable for Susannahs injuries under the doctrine of strict product liability? The local ACE hardware store, the chain saw manufacturer and everyone else in the chain of distribution of this product Only the manufacturer because it has sole responsibility for the design and manufacture of this product. Susannah can recover against the local Ace Hardware store and the chain saw manufacturer but the maximum she can recover is ten times the retail cost of the item ($850). Only the local ACE hardware store where she bought the chain saw.

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