Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Law Restricting Rights of Those Injured By Defective Products

Alison De Villiers

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This week, in Groch v. General Motors Corp., the Ohio Supreme Court upheld a law protecting product manufacturers from any claims where the injury occurs more than 10 years after product was delivered to the customer. This is regardless of how defective or dangerous the product is and how much injury it causes.

This decision protects those who cause harm to Ohioans with defective products and takes away the rights of those injured to have proper recourse. If the effects of a product are not known until more than 10 years after the product is placed in the market, then Ohioans have no legal recourse.

Justice Pfiefer disagreed with the majority of the Supreme Court's decision. In doing so, he wrote:

"It is a harrowing thought that the products we use today that may be ticking time bombs -- be they food additives, cell phones, automobiles -- after ten years can leave us profoundly injured with no hope of recovery against the (manufacturer). For manufacturers, the bomb stops ticking at ten years. For Ohio's consumers, once but no longer protected by the Ohio Constitution, the ticking continues."