Legal Definitions - product liability

Product liability refers to the legal responsibility that manufacturers, distributors, and sellers hold for injuries or damages caused by a defective product they have placed into the market. It allows consumers and other users to seek compensation if a product's flaw leads to harm.

This area of law often operates under the principle of strict liability, meaning that a company can be held responsible even if they did not intend for the product to be faulty or were unaware of the defect. It focuses on the product's condition rather than the company's intent. Product liability claims can also be based on negligence (where a company failed to act with reasonable care in designing, manufacturing, or marketing a product) or breach of warranty (where the product failed to meet promises made about its quality or performance).

A product can be considered defective in several ways:

• Manufacturing Defect: This occurs when a product deviates from its intended design during production, making it more dangerous than other identical products.
• Design Defect: This means the product's fundamental design itself is inherently unsafe, even if manufactured perfectly, and a safer alternative design was feasible.
• Marketing Defect (Failure to Warn): This arises when a product lacks adequate warnings or instructions about its potential dangers or proper use, which are not obvious to the user.

To succeed in a product liability claim, a person generally needs to show that the product was defective, that the defect existed when the product left the company's control, and that this defect directly caused their injury. Courts assess whether a product is defective using standards like the consumer expectation standard (which asks if the product is more dangerous than an ordinary consumer would expect) or the risk-utility standard (which weighs the product's risks against its benefits, considering if a safer, practical design could have been used).

Here are some examples illustrating product liability:

• Example 1 (Manufacturing Defect): A new, high-end smartphone is purchased. Within a week, the battery swells and overheats, causing the phone's casing to crack and emitting a burning smell. An investigation reveals that a specific batch of batteries used in these phones had a faulty seal due to an error at the battery manufacturing plant.

  Explanation: This illustrates a manufacturing defect. The smartphone's design was likely safe, but a flaw in the production of a specific component (the battery) made this particular unit dangerous, causing damage and potential injury. The battery manufacturer, and potentially the phone manufacturer, could be held strictly liable because the defect occurred during the manufacturing process and caused harm.

• Example 2 (Design Defect): A popular brand of infant car seat is designed with a buckle release mechanism that, under certain common impact conditions, becomes jammed and cannot be unlatched quickly. Several parents report struggling to free their children after minor collisions. Safety experts later demonstrate that a slightly different, equally cost-effective buckle design would prevent jamming without compromising safety.

  Explanation: This is a design defect. The problem isn't with a single faulty car seat, but with the inherent design of the buckle system across the entire product line. A safer alternative design was available, and the existing design posed an unreasonable risk in an emergency, making the manufacturer potentially liable for injuries or distress caused by the jammed buckles.

• Example 3 (Marketing Defect/Failure to Warn): A powerful weed killer is sold to homeowners. The product label includes instructions for mixing and application but fails to warn that inhaling the spray mist can cause severe respiratory irritation, even in well-ventilated outdoor areas, and does not recommend wearing a respirator. A homeowner uses the product as directed and develops acute breathing difficulties requiring medical attention.

  Explanation: This demonstrates a marketing defect or failure to warn. The weed killer itself might not be defectively manufactured or designed, but the manufacturer failed to provide adequate warnings about a non-obvious and significant health risk associated with its intended use. The insufficient warning directly contributed to the user's injury, making the manufacturer potentially liable.