State supreme courts retreated from pro-plaintiff strict liability doctrines during the 1980s.

Evidence

Beginning in the 1980s, several supreme courts modified their policies on product liability. Some courts declined to extend doctrines that benefit plaintiffs to new situations. Thus, they refused to impose strict liability on producers of dangerous but defectless products—such as handguns, alcohol, and swimming pools—or on producers who failed to warn victims of scientifically unknown risks. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3529

Categorization

• XREF: Links to the course theme of state judicial policymaking and to Lochner-era debates about judicial restraint versus policy preference.
• DEFINE: Specifies what strict liability for design defects (and the duty to warn) actually requires.