Torts, Product Liability, and Consumer Protection
Torts, Product Liability, and Consumer Protection tests negligence, strict liability for defective products, and consumer statutes.
Core rules
- Negligence: duty, breach, causation (actual and proximate), damages.
- Strict product liability: seller of a defective product unreasonably dangerous; defect types are manufacturing, design, and warning. No need to prove negligence, but defect and causation are required.
- Defenses: comparative or contributory fault where allowed, assumption of risk, misuse, alteration, and preemption.
- Consumer protection: FTC Act §5 prohibits unfair or deceptive acts or practices; state UDAP statutes often add private rights and damages. Magnuson-Moss governs warranties; FDCPA and TCPA regulate debt collection and communications.
Worked example
A power saw lacks a guard that a reasonable alternative design could provide at modest cost. A user is injured. Under risk-utility analysis, the design may be defective even though the manufacturer followed industry practice; the plaintiff must still show the defect caused the injury and that the saw was used as intended or foreseeably.
Traps
Strict liability is not absolute liability. The economic loss rule often bars tort recovery for pure financial loss. A warning may not cure an obvious danger, but failure to warn of latent risks can be a defect. Consumer statutes vary widely by state.