Ronnie A. TRAYLOR and Ann M. Traylor, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. HUSQVARNA MOTOR, Et Al., Defendants-Appellees

POSNER, Circuit Judge.

Ronnie Traylor and his wife appeal from the dismissal of their products liability suit, a diversity suit governed by Indiana law. The case was tried before a magistrate judge by consent of the parties and the jury brought in a verdict for the defen dants, whom we refer to collectively as Omark.

A maul, the agent of the injury that gave rise to the suit, is a long-handled striking tool the steel head of which has an axe blade on one side and a flat, sledgehammer-like surface on the other. One day in 1986 Ronnie Traylor and his friend Dierking were splitting logs on…