If you have been injured by a defective or dangerous product, you may have an easier time recovering compensation for your injuries than those who are injured in other ways. This is because special rules and theories of recovery have been developed in the area of product liability law. A person may recover against a manufacturer or seller based on one or more of the following theories: strict liability; negligence; and, breach of warranty, depending on the law in the applicable state. The most commonly asserted theory, strict liability, is discussed here.

Strict Liability Defined

Ordinarily, to hold someone liable for your injuries, you must show that they were careless, that is, negligent, and that their carelessness led to the your injuries. With products sold to the general public, however, it would be extremely difficult and prohibitively expensive for one individual to have to show how and when a manufacturer was careless in making a particular product. Neither can the consumer be expected to prove whether the seller or renter of a product had a proper system for checking for manufacturer's defects, or whether the seller caused the defect after receiving the product from the manufacturer. Finally, a consumer cannot be expected to check each product before using it to see if it is defective or dangerous.

For all these reasons, the law has developed a doctrine known as "strict liability," that allows a person injured by a defective or unexpectedly dangerous product to recover compensation from the maker or seller of the product, without showing that the manufacturer or seller was actually negligent.

Here's how strict liability works: If you have been injured by a consumer product, you are entitled to compensation from the manufacturer or from the business that sold or rented the product directly to you. Strict liability operates against a non-manufacturer who sold or rented a product only if it is in the business of regularly selling or renting those particular kinds of products. In other words, if you bought something at a flea market stall, garage sale or thrift store that sells all kinds of things but not any one type of item on a regular basis, strict liability may not apply.