Whaley v. Rheem Manufacturing Co.

OPINION

SUSANO, Judge.

This is a products liability case. Rheem Manufacturing Company (Rheem) appeals from the trial court’s judgment that approved a jury verdict awarding the plaintiffs Jonas Whaley and his wife, June Whaley, $475,000 in compensatory damages for property losses suffered by them when their home in Decatur, Meigs County, and its contents were consumed by fire on March 19-20, 1988. The trial court submitted the plaintiffs’ case to the jury on the sole issue of whether Rheem was liable on the theory of strict liability in tort. It was and is the position of the plaintiffs that a…