Products Liability: Kreindler & Kreindler is victorious in the Supreme Court of Connecticut and makes new law changing Connecticut's Doctrine of Superseding Cause (May 2003) > e-mail comments or questions
In a lengthy products liability trial in Waterbury, Connecticut, partner David Beekman and Andrew J. Maloney of Kreindler & Kreindler proved to a jury that a roofing bracket was defective and unreasonably dangerous. The Trial Judge, however, over objection charged the jury on the doctrine of superseding cause and judgment was entered in favor of the defendants. In September 2002, partner David Beekman argued the appeal before the Supreme Court of the State of Connecticut and that Court's opinion released on May 6, 2003 changed Connecticut's longstanding law on superseding cause. The Supreme Court of Connecticut stated that the jury found that the "product was defective and unreasonably dangerous at the time it was manufactured and sold by the defendants, and that the defective condition of the product was a proximate cause of the plaintiffs' accident". The Court went on to abandon the use of the doctrine of superseding cause except in exceptional circumstances, ruled that the Trial Judge should not have charged the jury on the issue of superseding cause and granted the Plaintiffs a new trial. This advance in Connecticut Law brought about by Kreindler & Kreindler in this case will benefit injured individuals and their families for years to come.
