Legal Analysis of Employee Injury Due to Reconditioned Saw

Was the storekeeper or Power Saw Company responsible for the employee's injury?

The employee was injured while using a reconditioned saw. Who can be held liable for the injury?

Answer:

The storekeeper disassembled and rebuilt the saw using new bearings, and the employee's injury was caused by the loose shaft and blade, not a defect in the original product.

A storekeeper who owns a large hardware store sells power saws for both personal and commercial use. He often takes old power saws as trade-ins on new ones. The old power saws are then completely disassembled and rebuilt with new bearings by the storekeeper's employees and sold as "reconditioned saws." In this case, the employee's injury was a result of the loose shaft and blade on the reconditioned saw, not a defect in the original product manufactured by Power Saw Company. The storekeeper, not Power Saw Company, was responsible for the reconditioning process that led to the injury.

In a strict liability claim, the injured party seeks to hold the manufacturer responsible for a defective product that caused harm. However, since the injury was caused by the storekeeper's actions during the reconditioning process and not a defect in the original saw, it weakens any potential claim against Power Saw Company under strict liability.

Furthermore, the storekeeper exchanged the saw blade to accommodate the purchaser's needs, but it was the original shaft that failed during use, resulting in the accident. Therefore, the claim against Power Saw Company is unlikely to succeed because they were not directly involved in the reconditioning process that led to the employee's injury.