On September 30, 2010, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law the Expedited Jury Trials Act (AB 2284) The Act, introduced by a former insurance defense litigator, allows litigants to agree to a quicker, simpler, and cheaper jury trial option.
In William Keith Johnson v. American Standard, Inc., (2008 WL 878933), the California Supreme Court held that the sophisticated user defense in products liability actions applies in California. In its ruling, the Court held that the relevant time for determining user sophistication was the date the sophisticated user was injured and knew or should have known of the risk. The Court further focused on the sophisticated user population’s objective knowledge of the risk at issue, and not the individual plaintiff’s subjective understanding of the risk. Therefore, the Court confirmed that a manufacturer owes no duty to warn of a danger that the ultimate user knows of, or should know of, at the time of injury.
