SACRAMENTO DEFECTIVE PRODUCT INJURY LAWYER
Sacramento Product Liability Injury Attorney, Product Liability Lawyer Northern California
The law of product liability is the area of law that deals with the liability of the manufacturer, wholesaler, or retailer
of a product for injuries resulting from dangerous and defective products. Products subject to the law run the spectrum
from food, drugs, appliances, automobiles, medical devices, medical implants, blood, and tobacco, even commercial jets. At
common law, the sale of a product was viewed as a commercial transaction and which only the parties of the commercial
contract could sue. The law has evolved, and today, virtually anyone injured by a “defective” product
(product which is unreasonably dangerous for its intended use) can bring an action for damages against any party in the
distributive chain of the product, whether it be the manufacturer, the wholesaler, the retailer, or even the maker of a
component part.
Product Liability & Negligence
A basic negligence claim consists of proof of the following:
- A duty owed on the part of the manufacturer;
- A breach of that duty;
- That the breach caused the plaintiff's injury; and,
- An injury.
A products liability negligence claim usually falls into one of three possible types:
- Design Defect
- Manufacturing Defect
- Failure to Warn
Over time, several other negligence concepts have arisen to deal with certain specific situations, including negligence per
se (using a manufacturer's violation of a law or regulation in place of proof of a duty and a breach) and res ipsa loquitur
(an inference of negligence under certain conditions). The difficulties of an injured customer to prove what a manufacturer
did or did not do during the design or manufacture of a product has led to the development of newer product liability claims
such as strict liability.
Product Liability & Strict Liability
Rather than focus on the behavior of the manufacturer (as in negligence), strict liability claims focus on the product
itself. The basic component of a strict liability claim is proof that the product is defective or unreasonably dangerous.
Similar to negligence claims, strict liability claims may attack a product's design, manufacture, or warnings. The various
U.S. states have employed numerous ways to determine a product's defectiveness. Most of the tests used to determine
defectiveness include concepts such as consumer expectations (consumer expectations test), balancing of the product's
risk and its utility (Risk-Utility Test), obviousness of the danger (Open and Obvious Danger Rule), existence of a
safer design alternative (Feasible/Reasonable Design Alternative), sophistication of the product's user (Sophisticated
User Doctrine), and existence of knowledgeable intermediaries between the manufacturer and the user (Learned Intermediary
Doctrine).
Strict liability for defective products has often been criticized as an extremely harsh doctrine that imposes high
liability costs upon manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, and almost anyone else in the chain of commerce.
Strict liability is one of the primary reasons why warning labels have become so ubiquitous on modern products.
Nonetheless strict liability has become the overwhelming majority rule in the United States, due to the widespread
agreement that it is the only way to ensure that such parties will always take all reasonable measures to protect the
consumer because they know they will always be liable for any harm caused by the product.
It is important to know what to do to protect the legal rights of yourself and your loved ones. Selecting the right
defective product lawyer is an important decision. You should choose someone who is experienced, aggressive, and
dedicated to obtaining fair compensation for your defective product injuries. We have successfully handled
thousands of injury cases, which is why you should contact the Sacramento Defective Product Lawyer
Frank D. Penney.
