Product Liability Cases

Colton Monroe

Bus Law Paper

Dr. Plumb

11/29/10

“Significant Product Liability Cases since 2005”

One area of Business Law that results in many significant lawsuits is product liability. Many significant product liability cases have occurred since 2005 at the federal level, and more commonly at the state level. Product Liability cases deal with manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, distributors, and others being responsible for the injuries that their products cause to customers (“product liability”). These cases, dealing with tangible personal property, can have major implications in lawsuits and can contain large amounts of damages. Many of these cases have placed certain manufacturers and sellers in a massive amount of legal trouble, and consumers have suffered in various ways.

There are four major theories of product liability from common law, including breach of warranty, negligence, strict liability, and consumer protection claims. A breach of warranty deals with the breach of a statement by a manufacturer or seller about a product and this requires privity between the injured party and the manufacturer (Friedman). Negligence claims result from when a duty is owed, that duty is breached, the breach caused the injury, and the plaintiff suffered an actual injury from the breach (Friedman). Strict liability arises when a product is defective and the manufacturer is liable. The final theory is customer protection, which are statutes that provide remedies for customers that have products that are deemed unusable but do not cause physical injury. Cases often include more than one of these theories of product liability, and most product liability cases deal with negligence and strict liability.

Monroe 2

There have been many cases recently that deal with these different theories of product liability. Some cases have been dismissed due to insufficient evidence, and other cases have provided consumers with large remedies relieving...