An Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, jury awarded a $3.1 million products liability verdict based largely on its answer to the question of what a consumer can reasonably expect from a tire—in this case, that the tire in question would not explode during use.
Following a two-week trial involving expert testimony on the various aspects of a tire’s design and manufacturing, the jury’s Wednesday decision came down to the less technical matter of a consumer expectation test, which found that the product that caused the plaintiff’s injury did not perform as safely as its user reasonably assumed it would.
