Russell v. George Rose & Co., Inc

In Russell v. George Rose & Co., Inc. (1969) 276 Cal.App.2d 456, a person was injured by a defective gun which exploded the first time he fired it. He sued the army surplus retailer from whom he acquired the gun (Russell), the wholesaler (George Rose & Co., Inc.) and the importer (Interarmco). The manufacturer was not made a party to the action because the defect was created by unknown previous owners subsequent to manufacture. The trial court had submitted the action to the jury based upon both strict liability and breach of warranty, and a verdict against all three defendants was rendered. However, the issue on appeal in Russell was not whether those dealers in used goods could properly be held strictly liable for post-manufacture product defects. The appeal was from a judgment of the trial court which dealt solely with the problem of the rights of the defendants to indemnity against each other. The court assumed for purposes of its discussion that the defendants had been found liable based upon strict product liability.