Product Liability

PRODUCT LIABILITY refers to the legal responsibility of manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers to compensate buyers and users who have suffered damages or injuries as a result of defective goods. A more detailed definition is provided by Patricia Peppin:

“A breach of the standard of care in the manufacturing, bottling, assembling, distributing, or inspecting of products, which causes foreseeable harm to the ultimate consumer, where there has been no possibility of intermediate examination, will give rise to liability.” Products subject to liability include a wide range of consumer goods such as food, drugs, home appliances, automobiles, tobacco, and medical devices.

According to the National Commission on Product Safety, over 20 million Americans have suffered injuries as a result of unsafe consumer products; 110,000 have been permanently disabled and ...