Beard v. Johnson and Johnson, Inc.

*101 OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

This appeal arises out of a medical-device product liability action in which a striet-liability, design-defect theory was asserted. Given that the surgical instrument in issue is said to have multiple applications, we are asked to determine whether a trial court’s threshold risk-utility analysis should be limited to the particular one alleged to have caused the plaintiff harm. Additionally, appeal was allowed to consider the degree to which an appellate court is bound by such weight and credibility determinations as may be made by a trial court in a risk-utility…