Rosales

In this product liability case, judgment was awarded to plaintiff for injuries she suffered from a product manufactured by defendant’s corporate predecessor 24 years earlier. Defendant had continued to distribute the same products of the corporation it had acquired. Its acquisition of the predecessor corporation had destroyed plaintiff’s remedy against that corporation.

Liability was based on Ray v. Alad Corp. (1977) 19 Cal.3d 22 [ 136 Cal.Rptr. 574 , 560 P.2d 3 ] in which our Supreme Court held that under these, and other circumstances, the acquiring company is strictly liable for defects in the products manufactured by the predecessor company. The circumstances of Ray are applicable here.

Defendant argues that the Ray doctrine of “product line liability” should be overruled. It points out that only one published decision affirmed a judgment based on Ray’s theory of successor liability.

This is the second case.

On appeal the defendant also contends the trial court erred in instructing the jury about the elements of the Ray doctrine; plaintiff failed to prove the machine was in the same condition as it was when it left the manufacturer; the defendant is entitled to an…