Liability And The Standards Of Care

Determining an engineer's liability when there is a design error is becoming more and more complicated. A standard of care that reflects advances in knowledge but without strict liability is needed. Courts have correctly refused to apply either absolute or strict liability to design professiona...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Civil engineering (New York, N.Y. 1983) N.Y. 1983), 1988-11, Vol.58 (11), p.70
Main Authors: Peck, John C, Hoch, Wyatt A
Format: Magazinearticle
Language:English
Subjects:
Engineers
Liability
Malpractice
Products liability
Professional standards
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Summary:Determining an engineer's liability when there is a design error is becoming more and more complicated. A standard of care that reflects advances in knowledge but without strict liability is needed. Courts have correctly refused to apply either absolute or strict liability to design professionals, and both legal and policy arguments support this position. The formulation of the product liability state-of-the-art defense demonstrates the applicability of the doctrine to design engineers. Commentators define a product's state of the art in terms of such economic considerations as list cost, utility, and ease of assembly, and in terms of such technological factors as strength of materials and availability of alternative designs. For buildings these same economic factors must be accommodated without giving up the integrity of the structure. The informed engineer standard would avoid the disadvantages of strict liability, while preventing wholesale engineering practice at the minimal level of acceptable conduct.
ISSN:0885-7024
2381-0688