Areas of Practice - Unsafe Product Liability

The law of products liability is an outgrowth of the industrial revolution. With the advent of mechanized manufacturing, it was recognized that unintended dangers escape the factory that harm men, women, and children. In an effort to balance the need for advanced manufacturing and business interests, against the need to protect the innocent consumers of manufactured goods, product liability laws have been enacted. They essentially provide that if there is a defect in the manufacture or design of a product, that causes harm to an innocent consumer, the manufacturer is responsible for that harm. The intent is to spread the risk of defects over the manufacturing industry as a whole, rather than shifting it to individually harmed members of the community or a family.

“Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness.” James Wilson “Of The Study of the Law in the United States.”