Phillips v. J. L. Hudson Co.

Plaintiff brought a products liability action to recover for injuries sustained when the glass bowl of an electric coffee maker broke as the plaintiff was affixing a plastic cover to it. She appeals from a jury verdict of no cause of action.

Plaintiff assigns as error the trial court’s exclusion of evidence of a subsequent design change to show the existence of a previous design defect. Specifically, she offered proof that it required 8 pounds of pressure to snap the cover onto the model that caused her injury, whereas a newer model required only 3 pounds of pressure.

It is well settled that…