Product Liability: Definition And Typical Lawsuits (2025)

What Is Product Liability?

Product liability is a set of legal theories that hold manufacturers legally responsible for injuries caused by their products. There is no federal product liability law; instead, each state has developed product liability doctrines over two centuries of injury cases.

Although each state’s laws cover only those claims that arise inside its borders, these laws are remarkably uniform across the United States. Specifically, most states use the same three theories of product liability.

Theories of Product Liability Law

The earliest product liability cases relied on contract law — a seller breaches their sales contract when they deliver a defective product to a buyer. This theory had a major drawback: only the buyer could bring a lawsuit. If the buyer’s child suffered an injury, a court might dismiss the parent’s contract claim.

The first advance happened in New York. The state’s highest court held that manufacturers are liable for negligence when customers get injured.

Thus, it did not matter whether the victim had a contractual relationship with the original manufacturer. Manufacturers became liable to all foreseeable users for product liability torts.

The final development occurred when courts decided to dispense with the fiction of an implied warranty and hold manufacturers “strictly liable” for user injuries.

Depending on your state, you can still use these three theories to recover different types of damages.

Breach of Warranty

Breach of warranty is a contractual claim. You can raise this theory if you purchased the product that harmed you. Your attorney must prove that the product’s defect rendered it unfit for its intended purpose. If you prevail on this claim, you can recover the purchase price of the product.

Negligence

Injured victims can seek compensation for unintentional injuries by showing that another person or organization acted negligently. This applies to product liability claims as well as other personal injury claims.

What is product liability negligence? This type of claim involves showing that the manufacturer was careless in designing and manufacturing the product, such as in the Valsartan lawsuit, where lawsuits allege negligence in quality control processes, leading to contamination with carcinogenic impurities. In this context, carelessness means that the manufacturer should have known that the product would injure users.

This theory is difficult to use. You must hire experts to explain what the manufacturer should have discovered about its products and what it should have done to avoid harming consumers.

Strict Liability

Strict liability is the most powerful of the theories. To win a strict liability claim, you only need to prove that the product contained a defect that caused your injuries. You do not need to prove anything about the manufacturer’s state of mind. Thus, all of the following are irrelevant in a strict liability case:

• Whether the manufacturer intended to release a defective product
• Whether the manufacturer knew about the defect
• Whether the manufacturer should have known the product was defective

Product defects fall into three categories: design, manufacturing, and warning defects.

Types of Product Defects

Here’s a closer look at the three primary categories of product defects:

Design Defects

Design defects are inherent in the product. These products have no safe use, and risks always outweigh their benefits. Takata airbags had a design defect; the chemicals used in these airbags would degrade in hot and humid weather and spontaneously explode. Similarly, in the Tesla Autopilot lawsuit, plaintiffs argue that the design flaws and lack of adequate safety measures in the autonomous driving system caused accidents. When such defects are part of a new vehicle, lemon laws can provide additional recourse for consumers, allowing them to seek remedies for persistent safety or functionality issues, including defective safety features like airbags.

Manufacturing Defects

Manufacturing defects happen at the factory when the product does not meet specifications. Bridgestone/Firestone tires had a manufacturing defect because one plant produced tires with an adhesive layer that was too thin, leading to tread separation.

Warning Defects

Warning defects happen when the manufacturer fails to explain how to use the product safely. They can also happen when the manufacturer fails to warn against foreseeable misuse. Several dangerous products allegedly had warning defects, such as tobacco and asbestos.

The Roundup lawsuit also alleges a warning defect. In lawsuits against Roundup, injured consumers argue that the company knew about the dangers posed by its products but failed to warn customers to wear protective gear while using them.

In a product tort, claims related to warning defects are sometimes called “failure to warn” claims.

Types of Product Liability Claims

Any product that injures users can be the subject of a personal injury product liability claim. Some of the major areas of product liability cases involve dangerous medications, physical defects, and hazardous substances.

Chemical Exposure

People encounter potentially dangerous substances at home and work. These substances can cause acute or chronic effects like chemical burns, poisoning, and an increased cancer risk. Asbestos is a well-known example of a dangerous substance.

Dangerous Drugs

Even after a drug gains FDA approval, it can produce adverse effects that cause injury, illness, or even death. For example, the Truvada lawsuit alleges the medication causes kidney failure and bone density loss.

Defective Products

Products of all types can injure users during use or foreseeable misuse. Some product liability examples include defective vehicle systems, toys that pose choking hazards, and dangerous medical devices. Silicone breast implant lawsuits alleged that the products were defective.

Responsible Parties in Product Liability Cases

Determining who is responsible for a defective product is often more challenging than it seems. In some cases, multiple parties may share fault.

The best way to find out who may be liable for your injuries is to consult an experienced attorney, but in many cases, one or more of the following are responsible:

• The manufacturer of the product
• A product assembler or installer
• The manufacturer of a component or part
• The product wholesaler
• The retailer

Strict liability only applies to commercial sellers. For example, if you buy a defective appliance from someone who listed it in the local classified ads, the seller couldn’t be strictly liable for the defect.

However, this doesn’t mean you have no way to get your money back. If you have reason to believe that the seller knew about the defect and concealed it, you may be able to file a lawsuit on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation.

Common Defenses in Product Liability Lawsuits

Before you file a product liability lawsuit, it may be helpful to understand some of the defenses manufacturers often use:

The Plaintiff Misused the Product

Sometimes, a manufacturer will try to claim that an injured plaintiff used the product in an abnormal way. Because this defense is so commonly used, courts will usually only consider it if the use of the product was “unforeseeable” or “outrageous.”

The Plaintiff Assumed Risk by Using the Product

Many manufacturers will also assert that an injured person assumed a risk when they used the product. This defense is reasonable in some cases and unreasonable in others.

For example, imagine your foot slips on the pedal of a bike, causing a fall. In this case, the manufacturer could argue that reasonable people know that this is a possibility when riding a bicycle.

However, if you fall because the bicycle’s brakes failed, the manufacturer would likely be unsuccessful if they used this defense. Falling is always a possibility on a bike, but it’s reasonable for a consumer to expect a new bicycle to have functioning brakes.

The Plaintiff Modified the Product

If the product that caused your injury was altered or modified by someone other than the manufacturer, the manufacturer may not be liable.

For example, imagine you borrow your friend’s ride-on lawnmower. It accelerates unexpectedly and crashes into a tree, breaking your arm. You’re about to sue the manufacturer when you learn that your friend upgraded the engine so the mower could reach speeds of 30 mph.

Because the modification (and not an inherent issue with the product) caused your injury, you might be able to sue your friend. However, you almost certainly wouldn’t win a case against the manufacturer.