Does Arkansas law recognize a strict liability products claim? Yes. Despite the absence of any contractual relationship, the supplier of a product in Arkansas is subject to liability in damages for harm to a person or property if (1) the supplier is engaged in the business of manufacturing, assembling, selling, leasing, or otherwise distributing the product; (2) the product was supplied by him in a defective condition that rendered it unreasonably dangerous; and (3) the defective condition was a proximate cause of the harm to the person or property. Ark. Code Ann. § 16-116-201; See AMI 1008.
By contrast, mere inadequacy of the product is not a basis for strict liability, even if economic loss does result. Berkeley Pump Co. v. Reed-Joseph Land Co., 279 Ark. 384, 391, 653 S.W.2d 128, 131 (1983). A product must be shown to be more than just “defective”—it must also be unreasonably dangerous. Mason v. Mitcham, 2011 Ark. App. 189, 382 S.W.3d 717 (2011) (double bunk trailer; finding of liability reversed). Compare Berkeley Pump Co. v. Reed-Joseph Land Co., 279 Ark. 384, 395, 653 S.W.2d 128, 133 (1983) (finding that irrigation pumps that failed to pump an adequate volume of water were not unreasonably dangerous) to Farm Bureau Ins. Co. v. Case Corp., 317 Ark. 467, 471–73, 878 S.W.2d 741, 744 (1994) (concluding that a tractor that caught fire was unreasonably dangerous).
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