Lambert v. Will Brothers Company
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
596 F.2d 799 (1979)
- Written by Mary Phelan D'Isa, JD
Facts
Mark Lambert, a trim-press operator (plaintiff) sued the Will Brothers Company, the manufacturer of a hydraulic trim press (defendant), to recover damages for personal injuries that Lambert suffered at work when using a press that was manufactured by Will Brothers. When Lambert was injured, the press he was using was missing the ring guard for the right-palm control button, and according to expert testimony, it was defectively designed because it lacked ring guards around the palm control buttons and had an improperly designed safety jack and power buttons. Lambert was injured when he was changing the die on the press and a worktable penetrated the ring guard around the left control button. The safety jack failed, and the upper platen descended suddenly and crushed Lambert’s right hand. The jury was instructed on the assumption-of-risk defense, and it returned a general verdict in favor of Will Brothers. Lambert appealed and argued that the trial court erred in instructing the jury on the assumption-of-risk defense.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Lay, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.