Whitfield

Appellant Martin Whitfield is a Los Angeles police officer badly injured in a shootout with Emil Matasareanu and Larry Phillips, Jr., in front of the North Hollywood Branch of the Bank of America on February 28, 1997. Being heavily armed and attired in full body armor, Matasareanu and Phillips were able to hold off police officers for a considerable period of time while inflicting injury on police officers and civilians alike. Respondent Heckler & Koch, Inc., is one of ten named defendants alleged to have manufactured, distributed, marketed, or sold one or more of the weapons used by Matasareanu and Phillips in the shootout. The trial court sustained respondent's demurrer to the second amended complaint.

Although respondent's product was not defective in the usual sense, appellant asks that we adopt a new theory of liability to cover products which are unflawed in manufacture or design but which are so potentially dangerous that they should not be offered for sale to the general public unless the manufacturer is willing to internalize the cost of all injuries which result from the product's misuse. Failing that, appellant urges that traditional product liability and…