The exposure may have been the dead girl and not the fact that the company had not done anything or had not done everything to make the home bulletproof from a tornado.

“Look at the picture! Look at her face! I am channeling her right now and she cries out from the grave for justice!”

(Sorry… that was my John Edwards monent there.)

Here is an article on the Rogers Tornado including a picture of the house in which the girl was killed.

http://www.startribune.com/local/23999344.html?page=1&c=y

The headline is “Do garage doors open the door to tornado damage?”

In other words, even if the manufacturer has met all safety regulations, the plaintiff is still free to argue that the design was still deficient, as the manufacturer either knew or should have known that the standard was inadequate to prevent the injury (or even potential injury in some newer cases).

The fact that the plaintiff would likely not have purchased or used the “safer” design, because it would have been more expensive or otherwise less attractive than the alternative that was actually produced is considered to be immaterial, and generally inadmissible in these cases.

Let’s say a community in “tornado alley” dictates by law that all trailer parks must have a tornado shelter that meets certain standards. Although a tornado is an act of god, the fact it is forseable one will hit the trailer park is reflected in the ordinance. If a tornado actually hits the trailer park and the shelter is not there or was not built according to the required standards, the owners are simply going to be found liable in a civil court for the injuries sustained. Why? They had a duty (pursuant to the law), they breached that duty, their breach caused people to get injured, and people were actually injured.

Other posts have stated this matter has already been settled. If so, it suggests the builder knew it had a serious exposure on its hands.

One of these days, nobody will be willing to put up the capital to own a business. Who will the Plaintiffs’ attorneys sue then? Oh yeah, the government. And just like the Dems turning over state treasuries to the Unions, politicians will make sure the Plaintiffs’ bar is well funded.

Bob