products liability

In a products liability tort case, a standard used for determining if a design defect exists. The consumer expectation test makes the seller of a product liable if the product is in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the consumer. The standard allows a jury to infer the existence of a defect if product fails to meet reasonable expectations of consumers.

In the law of products liability, a design defect exists when a defect is inherent in the design of the product itself. In a products liability case, a plaintiff can only establish a design defect exists when he proves there is hypothetical alternative design that would be safer that the original design, as economically feasible as the original design, and as practical as the original design, retaining the primary purpose behind the original design despite the changes made.

In the law of products liability, a manufacturing defect is a defect in a product that was not intended. This kind of defect occurs when a product departs from its intended design and is more dangerous than consumers expect the product to be.