Defenses for Manufacturers of Defective Products

Product liability lawsuits are brought by injured individuals against the manufacturer of a product to recover compensation for injuries caused by the defective product. There are tens of thousands of fatalities each year due to defective products and approximately 70,000 to 80,000 lawsuits are filed each year against manufacturers of allegedly defective products.

Product Liability Defenses
The defenses available to manufacturers of allegedly defective products vary from state to state, but some common defenses include:

• Assumption of risk – injured individual was aware of potential danger of using product in prescribed method, yet continued to use the product
• Comparative fault or contributory negligence – injured individual contributed in some capacity to the injury caused by the product
• Failure to follow instructions or warnings – injured individual was aware of instructions and warnings but failed to comply
• Misuse – injured individual improperly used the product thereby causing injury
• Statute of limitations – injured individuals may have a certain time limit to bring their claims before their right to recover is ultimately lost
• State of the art – manufacturer could not have known of inherent risks of the product or updated designs were unavailable to the manufacturer at the time of sale or manufacture

If a manufacturer of an allegedly defective product successfully asserts one of the aforementioned product liability defenses, the injured individual's damage recovery may be limited or non-existent.

© 2026 NextClient.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

• Remedies for Copyright Infringement
  Under U.S. law, creators of artistic works, including literary and dramatic works, music, choreography, paintings, sculpture, sound recordings, and movies, automatically have a copyright in the work, provided it is “original” and... Read more.
• Respondeat Superior – Liability of Employers for Employee Actions
  In general, people are not liable for the actions of others. There are, however, exceptions to this rule. One long-standing exception is the doctrine of “respondeat superior,” a Latin term meaning “let the master answer.”... Read more.
• Class Action Litigation
  A “class action” is a lawsuit brought by a representative plaintiff on behalf of a class of persons with similar claims. The class and the lawsuit must be certified by a judge as appropriate for class action treatment. If the case... Read more.
• Respondeat Superior Liability and Internet Use
  Many employers, recognizing the business advantages inherent in its use, regularly provide their employees with access to the Internet. Increased employee access, however, has resulted in increased employer liability. Employee misuse of... Read more.

• Judge Orders Trump to Pull $20 Million Taxpayer-Funded TV Ads Ahead of Midterms
• Police Investigate Alleged Sexual Assault at University of Chicago Fraternity House
• Anthropic's Claude AI Went Rogue and Filed a Fake Murder Tip With Philadelphia Police
• ACLU Sues Pentagon Over Hegseth's Study of Women in Combat Roles
• California Bans Employers From Using AI Alone to Fire Workers Under New Law