Defective or dangerous products are the cause of thousands of injuries each year in the United States. “Dangerous or defective product liability law“Contains the legal rules concerning who is liable for defective or dangerous products, it is different from ordinary injury law, and this set of rules sometimes makes it easier for an injured person to recover damages.
Product liability refers to a manufacturer or seller being held liable for placing a defective product in the hands of the consumer. Responsibility for a product defect that causes damage rests with all sellers of the product in the distribution chain. Potentially liable parties include:
- The manufacturer of the product
- A component manufacturer
- Wholesaler
- The retail store that sold the product to the consumer
When a small business owner opens their doors to the public, the possibility of a product liability claim also opens. Below is an overview of product liability, including a look at personal injury cases arising from defective or dangerous products.
What is a product liability claim?
The law requires a product to meet ordinary consumer expectations. When a product has an unexpected defect or hazard, the product cannot be said to meet ordinary consumer expectations. There is no federal product liability law. Typically, product liability claims are based on state law and are filed under the theories of negligence, strict liability, or breach of warranty. Additionally, a set of business statutes in each state, modeled on the Uniform Business Code, will contain warranty rules that affect product liability.
Responsible Parties
For product liability to arise, at some point the product must have been sold on the market. The injured person does not have to be the purchaser of the product in order to recover. Anyone who could foreseeably have been injured by a defective product can recover from their injuries, as long as the product was sold to someone.
Types of product defects
Under any theory of liability, a plaintiff in a product liability case must prove that the product that caused the injury was defective, and that the defect made the product unreasonably dangerous. There are three types of defects that can cause injury and lead to manufacturer or supplier liability: design defects, manufacturing defects, and marketing defects.
Design flaws
A design defect is an intentional design flaw in a product that makes it unreasonably dangerous. Thus, a design defect exists in a product from its inception. For example, a chair designed with only three legs could be considered defective because it tips too easily. Claims for design defects often require a demonstration of negligence. However, strict liability for an unreasonably dangerous design can be imposed if the plaintiff can present evidence that a cost-effective alternative design existed that would have avoided the risk of injury. In some cases, if a product was so unreasonably dangerous that it should never have been manufactured, the availability of a safer design might not be necessary to hold the designer responsible.
Manufacturing defects
A product has a manufacturing defect when the product does not conform to the designer’s or manufacturer’s specifications. Manufacturing defect cases are often the easiest to prove, as the manufacturer’s own design or marketing standards can be used to demonstrate that the product was defective. But proving how or why the failure or defect occurred can be difficult, which is why the law applies two special doctrines in defective product liability cases to help plaintiffs recover, even if they cannot prove that a manufacturer was negligent.
Res Ipsa Loquitur
The first doctrine, known as “res ipsa loquitur,” transfers the burden of proof in some product liability cases to the defendant. It indicates that the defect in question would not exist unless someone was negligent. If the doctrine is successfully invoked, the plaintiff is no longer obligated to prove how the defendant was negligent; rather, the defendant is required to prove that he was not negligent.
Strict liability
The second rule that helps plaintiffs in product liability cases is strict liability. If strict liability applies, the plaintiff does not need to prove that a manufacturer was negligent, but only that the product was defective. By eliminating the issue of manufacturer’s fault, the concept of strict or strict liability allows claimants to recover when they would not otherwise.
Marketing defects
Marketing defects include incorrect product labeling, insufficient instructions, or failure to warn consumers of a product’s hidden dangers. Negligent or willful misrepresentation of a product can also lead to a product liability claim.
Unavoidable unsafe products
By their nature, some products simply cannot be made safer without losing their usefulness. For example, an electric knife that is too boring to hurt anyone would also be useless for its purpose. It is generally believed that, for such products, users and consumers are best equipped to minimize risk.
Thus, while a product cannot be considered unreasonably dangerous, manufacturers and suppliers of inevitably unsafe products must adequately warn of the dangers and risks of their products so that consumers can make informed decisions about their use.
Common defenses to product liability claims
One defense often raised in product liability cases is that the plaintiff has not sufficiently identified the supplier of the product that allegedly caused the damage. A claimant must be able to connect the product with the party (s) responsible for its manufacture or supply. There is an exception to this rule, known as the “market share liability” exception, which applies in cases involving defective drugs. When a plaintiff cannot identify which of the pharmaceutical companies supplying a particular drug supplied the drug they took, each manufacturer will be held liable based on their percentage of sales in the area where the damage occurred.
Another defense that a manufacturer could raise is that the plaintiff substantially altered the product after leaving the control of the manufacturer, and this alteration caused the plaintiff’s injury. A related defense is that the plaintiff misused the product in an unpredictable way, and that his misuse of the product caused the alleged injuries.
Defending a product liability claim
Product liability cases are often quite complex, often requiring the assistance and testimony of experts. If you are a small business owner facing a potential product liability damage claim, you should discuss your case with an experienced business and commercial law attorney. An attorney will explore all of the possible defense options and strategies available to you.