South Dakota Codified Laws 20-9-10. Product’s manufacturer, assembler, or seller immune from strict liability for injury caused by certain alterations or modifications
No manufacturer, assembler, or seller of a product may be held liable for damages for personal injury, death, or property damage sustained by reason of the doctrine of strict liability in tort based on a defect in a product, or failure to warn or protect against a danger or hazard in the use or misuse of such a product, or failure to properly instruct in the use or misuse of such product, where a proximate cause of the injury, death, or damage was an alteration or modification of such product made under all of the following circumstances:
(1) The alteration or modification was made subsequent to the manufacture, assembly, or sale of the product;
Terms Used In South Dakota Codified Laws 20-9-10
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Property: includes property, real and personal. See South Dakota Codified Laws 2-14-2
- Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
(2) The alteration or modification altered or modified the purpose, use, function, design, or manner of use of the product from that originally designed, tested, or intended by the manufacturer, assembler, or seller; and
(3) It was not foreseeable by the manufacturer, assembler, or seller of the product that the alteration or modification would be made, and, if made, that it would render the product unsafe.
Source: SL 1979, ch 155, § 1.