5.40A – Products Liability — Introduction: Caveats to Judges

5.40A PRODUCTS LIABILITY — Introduction: Caveats to Judges

The defendant as the manufacturer/seller of a product has the duty to make/sell a product that is reasonably safe. In this charge when I refer to a reasonably safe product I mean a product that is reasonably fit, suitable and safe for its intended or reasonably foreseeable uses. Defendant owes that duty to direct users of the product, to reasonably foreseeable users of the product, and to those who may reasonably be expected to come into contact with it.

The defendant is liable only if the plaintiff proves that the product causing the harm was not reasonably safe for its intended purpose. In this case the plaintiff claims that the product was not reasonably safe for its intended purpose because of:

1. a manufacturing defect; or
2. a failure to adequately warn or instruct; or
3. a design defect.