ABSTRACT
The three most common theories of liability for which a manufacturer may be held liable for personal injury caused by its product are negligence, strict liability, and breach of warranty. These are referred to as common-law causes of action, which are distinct from causes of action based on federal or state statutory law. A plaintiff in a product liability action grounded in negligence, then, must establish a breach of the manufacturer’s or seller’s duty to exercise reasonable care in the manufacture and preparation of a product. Unlike the negligence suit, in which the focus is on the defendant’s conduct, in a strict liability suit, the focus is on the product itself. The law has always recognized that sellers may explicitly limit their liability upon a contract of sale by including disclaimers of any warranties under the contract. Determining defectiveness is one of the more difficult problems in products liability, particularly in design litigation.
