The NAM filed an amicus brief urging the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to review and reverse a decision that would subject a manufacturer or seller of a non-defective, merchantable component replacement part to liability solely because the end-product system into which the component was placed failed. This ruling—a substantial departure from traditional component part liability law both in Massachusetts and throughout the country—places companies at risk of extraordinary liability for risks they cannot control and harm they did not cause. The case involves a multi-million-dollar judgment against the seller of replacement fan coils for a custom heating and cooling system after the system began experiencing failure. Even though the component part seller had no role in designing, manufacturing, or selling the original HVAC system, a jury awarded $3.4M in damages—the cost of replacing the entire system.
The NAM filed briefs both in support of review and on the merits, arguing that companies cannot be liable for risks they did not create and cannot control. The lower court’s novel tort theory not only contradicts longstanding liability law, but is also unprincipled, would advance unsound legal policy, and could improperly alter the parties’ economic incentives and market behavior.
Happily, on April 21, 2021, the court granted direct review and on December 16, 2021, the court reversed the lower court's ruling, holding that there are no exceptions to the component part doctrine for products that do not stand-alone or are specialized for a specific end-product.