BIC Pen Corporation v. Carter

The Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA) created a safety commission (the commission) to develop and enforce federal safety regulations for certain products. The CPSA also authorized the commission to consider states’ applications for exemption from federal safety regulations. Additionally, the CPSA included a savings clause stating that compliance with federal safety rules does not provide immunity from liability under state law. Pursuant to its authority under the CPSA, the commission created safety regulations for disposable lighters. These regulations required disposable lighters to have child-resistant features and be inoperable by 85 percent of children during testing. When developing these regulations, the commission considered but rejected a higher safety standard because the standard would discourage consumer acceptance, decrease utility, and disproportionately increase costs. BIC Pen Corporation (BIC) (defendant) manufactured and sold a disposable lighter that complied with the CPSA child-resistant regulations. Despite that compliance, Brittany Carter sustained serious burns when her five-year-old brother, Jonas, accidentally set Brittany’s dress on fire using BIC’s lighter. Carter’s mother (plaintiff) brought a state-law tort claim against BIC for strict products liability. BIC argued that the federal CPSA regulations impliedly preempted Carter’s state-law claim. Carter argued that the CPSA’s savings clause permitted her claim and that CPSA regulations established a minimum safety standard that state common law could enhance. Carter also claimed that, under state common law, BIC’s lighter had a defective design that made the lighter unreasonably dangerous because safer lighters were available. The jury returned a verdict for Carter. The court of appeals affirmed. BIC appealed to the Texas Supreme Court.