First, I am not licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction. Take what I say as the view of an engineers with only limited experience in this area.
The term “Act of God” generally is limited to contract law and to insurance law. It is also generally limited to natural events such as earthquakes, tornados and such. It is unlikely that a court in the United States would accept a claim of an “Act of God” in a product liability case. Rich gives a brief statement from a 1944 Florida case, but that statement neither includes context nor takes into account decades of case law and precedent that provide the current interpretation of the phrase. As engineers, it can be fun to play with ideas such as “Act of God”, but it should be clear that this is just an attempt at humor and has little effect on liability in product design. The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. From: John Woodgate <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, December 29, 2019 6:41 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [EXTERNAL] Re: [PSES] act of God versus safety Does that prove that at least one god exists? Best wishes With seasonal felicitations John Woodgate OOO-Own Opinions Only Rayleigh, Essex UK www.woodjohn.uk<https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.woodjohn.uk&data=02%7C01%7Cted.eckert%40microsoft.com%7C32c7554ee7b84ede46c508d78cd1cacf%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C0%7C0%7C637132704988333332&sdata=vyoyjbn6klAW5msJwV6gqgV8sXjeTGqbhOmuITwHatc%3D&reserved=0> On 2019-12-30 02:09, Scott wrote: If you do a thorough hazard analysis, an act of god is obvious! Scott Sent from my iPhone On Dec 29, 2019, at 8:37 PM, Doug Powell <[email protected]><mailto:[email protected]> wrote: Rich, While many standards do indeed refer to foreseeable events, misuse, etc. I'm not certain this would automatically confer Act of God status to an unforeseen event. This hypothetical event may be a case of degrees and not of two extremes, especially in the case of a formerly unforeseeable and now preventable situation. Isn't this how many standards are developed over the years? I still remember shoe stores in the 1950s that offered real-time x-ray of how well shoes fit the customer's feet. An unforeseeable hazard at the time and now incredibly obvious. Would injury in the former time be an Act of God? Best wishes, Doug From: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: December 29, 2019 5:19 PM To: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Reply-to: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [PSES] act of God versus safety The Florida state Supreme Court ruled in 1944 that an act of God is “an act or occurrence so extraordinary and unprecedented that human foresight could not foresee or guard against it.” If a product that complies with a safety standard injures a person, is the injury an act of God? Best wishes for the holiday season, Rich - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. 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