The theory of liability that was presented by justice posner in finding
the defendant liable was that there was "no more than normal force
used that one exerts when snapping a lid on." The lower court failed
to look at and to inform planters to look at possible causes of the
incident. Posner points out that "the incident wouldn't have occurred
if the defect wasn't in the product when sold" and that the the likely
hood of there being intentional damage to the jar otherwise.
I agree with the judge on the ruling in favor of the plaintiff. It is
reasonable to believe that the jar was in fact defective and that there
wasn't a cause for the jar to bust if there wasn't a problem in the
manufacturing process. From personal experience it definitely
doesn't take a lot to put a lid on, but it does take significant force to
break a jar.
