Product Liability

The short answer is – it depends. Utah case law has established what is commonly referred to as the passive retailer doctrine. This doctrine creates an exception to Utah’s Product Liability Act, which states that a manufacturer or seller of a product may be held liable for injury caused by the product if found to be defective and unreasonably dangerous.

In 1979, the Utah Supreme Court in Ernest W. Hahn, Inc. v. Armco Steel Co., 601 P.2d 152 (1979) adopted the doctrine of strict liability as set out in the Restatement of Torts 2d, Section 402A. This section imposes liability in tort without proof of negligence upon “one who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the