Product Liability

Deceptive if…

A representation, omission, or practice that misleads or is likely to mislead a reasonable consumer and is material

Product Liability

a lawsuit brought by a party who has suffered an injury or experiences property damage due to a defective product

A product liability can be based on…

• negligence, strict liability, breach of warranty

Product Liability shifts burdens to…

parties who are best suited to make decisions about what makes a product safe: Designers, Manufacturers, Retailers

Types of defects

• Manufacturing: product was not made by the intended design/plan—> deviated

• Design: the design/planning of product

  • some products cannot be made totally safe and still be effective

• Marketing: what is being said + warned about the product; failure to warn about foreseeable risks

Who can sue?

• Injured Party

  • Consumers

  • users

  • innocent bystanders who are injured

Duty of Care (3)

• Duty to design a safe product

• Duty to manufacture properly and according to specification and design

• Duty to label/warn

Measures to take to practice foreseeability

• Design: Select materials, test the product

• Manufacturing: assemble the product, inspect the final product

• Warning about dangers: place adequate warnings

Strict Liability (3)

A different theory under which an injured party can establish product liability claim without negligence

• product was defective/unreasonably dangerous

• defect existed when it left the control of the manufacturer or seller

• the defective condition is what caused the injury

marketing defects (3)

• defective warnings

• failure to warn

• failure to provide instructions

• did manufacturer properly describe how to use the product?

• did the manufacturer provide adequate warnings about dangers associated with the product?

Defenses to Product Liability (4)

• Product Misuse

• Assumption of the risk

• Comparative/Contributor Negligence

• Statute of Limitations

• State-of-the-Art defense

Product Misuse

• plaintiff uses product for a use other than the intended use

• plaintiff altered the product, making it unsafe

• when product misuse is foreseeable, the designer should take steps to avoid he misuse

Statute of the art defense

defendant must prove that they used the best available technology and production processes to design and manufacture the product