Supreme Court of Vermont, 1996

The court reversed and remanded for a new trial because comparative causation principles apply to this strict-products-liability action and the jury was not instructed to apportion responsibility for the injury.

The court affirmed termination of the father’s residual parental rights despite his substantial recovery from substance abuse and improved living circumstances. It held that the reasonable-period inquiry is forward-looking, but that the father’s history and the child’s lack of a meaningful relationship with him…