What do butter-flavored microwave popcorn, a tire without nylon cap plies, a child restraint system, an asbestos-containing product, the chemical phosphorous pentasulfide and an orthopedic knee implant have in common? On the surface, not much.
But in the sometimes Wild West shootout called products liability, each has been the subject of claims for injury, each has involved the proffer of an expert’s defect-causation theory, each has undergone the scrutiny of gatekeeping judges, and each has resulted in recent rulings precluding expert testimony as unreliable.
