Appeals Court Finds REI Liable for Defective Fork on Novara Bike

REI must take responsibility for an allegedly defective fork that caused a Novara bicycle to collapse in 2007 and left a woman with permanent injuries, a Washington appeals court ruled last week.

The ruling came only a few days after the plaintiff, Monika Johnson, was killed in an unrelated backcountry accident in Snoqualmie Pass.

Johnson sued REI when a carbon fiber fork on her Novara bike failed, throwing her face down onto a sidewalk, according to a report in the Seattle Times. The accident broke her jaw, cost her several teeth and caused her to suffer head injuries and cuts and abrasions, according to her lawsuit.

REI had argued that manufacturers of the Novara's fork, not REI should be responsible for any defects, but Johnson's attorneys argued REI was responsible because it had branded the bike as its own. REI has not yet determined whether to appeal the ruling to the state's Supreme Court.
 
The part was manufactured by Aprebic Industry, but sold under REI's brand name Novara, according to Courthouse News Service. The appellate court agreed with the trial court's ruling that REI has the liability of a manufacturer under the Washington Product Liability Act.

“Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's ruling that Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) is not entitled to seek to allocate fault to the manufacturer of the defective product that REI branded as its own,” Judge Stephen Dwyer wrote for the court's three-judge panel on Feb. 7 according to a report in the Courthouse News Service. “We also conclude that the trial court erred neither by finding REI strictly liable for the injuries caused by the defective product nor by ruling that any third party claim by REI against the manufacturer would be severed for trial.”