In a recent ruling, the Arizona Court of Appeals has ruled that manufacturers can escape full responsibility for damages caused by their products if the company can show that the product's failure is due to faulty materials supplied to the manufacturer.

The unusual judgement involved assessed damages to Premier Manufactured Systems after it was found that the damage was the fault of Worldwide Distributing Ltd., the company that had manufactured canisters for a water filtration system. The defective unit caused nearly $20,000 in damages to a homeowner.

Complicating the matter, Worldwide is out of business. So the 25% assessed damages to Premier is leaving 75% of the potential claim without a responsible party currently in business.

For more on the case and the attempts of State Farm to reclaim funds from the manufacturer of the system, see:

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=73713