What is product liability?
Product liability is the area of law that decides who pays when a defective product injures someone or damages other property. In the United States it is mostly state law, built by courts over the last century. A landmark step came in MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co. (N.Y. 1916), which let an injured buyer sue the manufacturer for negligence even without a direct contract. Then Greenman v. Yuba Power Products (Cal. 1963) adopted strict liability, and the Restatement (Second) of Torts, Section 402A (1965), spread that rule across most states.
Under strict liability, an injured person does not have to prove the manufacturer was careless, only that the product was defective and the defect caused the injury. Claims can usually be brought against anyone in the chain of distribution, including manufacturers, distributors and retailers. It overlaps with consumer protection law and the broader law of personal injury.
- Main theories
- Strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty
- Defect types
- Manufacturing, design, warning
- Who can be sued
- Manufacturers, distributors, retailers
- Recalls
- Consumer Product Safety Commission and other agencies
A product can be defective in three ways. It was made wrong, designed wrong, or sold without proper warnings.
Three kinds of defects
- Manufacturing defect: The item departs from its intended design, such as a contaminated batch or a missing part. Liability here is strict in nearly every state.
- Design defect: The whole product line is unreasonably dangerous. Many states use a risk-utility test asking whether a reasonable alternative design would have reduced the risk, as in the Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability (1998); others ask whether the product failed to meet ordinary consumer expectations.
- Warning defect: The product lacked adequate instructions or warnings about risks that were not obvious.
Defenses and time limits
Common defenses include misuse that was not reasonably foreseeable, alteration of the product after sale, assumption of a known risk, and the injured person's own fault, which most states treat under comparative fault rules that reduce rather than bar recovery. Some states allow a "state of the art" defense for risks that could not have been known when the product was sold. Every state has a statute of limitations, often two to four years from the injury, and many also have a statute of repose that cuts off claims a set number of years after the product was first sold.
Recalls and mass claims
Federal agencies oversee recalls: the Consumer Product Safety Commission for most household goods, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for vehicles, and the Food and Drug Administration for drugs, medical devices and food. When one product harms many people, federal cases are often gathered before a single judge in multidistrict litigation, and some end in large settlements. Punitive damages may be awarded for especially reckless conduct, but many states cap them or require clear and convincing evidence.
How Korea compares
Korea passed a separate Product Liability Act in 2000, in force since July 2002, which holds manufacturers liable for manufacturing, design and warning defects without proof of fault. After the humidifier disinfectant disaster, in which many people suffered lung damage from a disinfectant whose inhalation risks had not been tested, a 2017 revision added punitive damages of up to three times the loss and a presumption of defect when harm occurs during normal use, effective April 2018. Unlike most U.S. states, Korea keeps a development risk defense in its statute.
A Korean paper on Korea's Product Liability Act and the Humidifier Disinfectant Case: Defects and Burden of Proof, the Development Risk Defense and Limitation Periods, and Safe Product Design analyzes the act and that disaster. Related Korean papers cover proof of fault and causation in Tort Liability for Environmental Pollution in Korea: Fault, the Tolerance Limit Theory and Proof of Causation by Probability, damages claims after an injury in Hotel Fire Death and Damages in Korea: Innkeeper Liability, Tort and Contract Claims, and a Surviving Spouse's Compensation and contract damages in Breach of Contract and Damages in Korean and International Sales Law: Delay, Impossibility, Defective Performance and Anticipatory Breach.
| United States | Korea | |
|---|---|---|
| Source of law | State court decisions and statutes | Product Liability Act (2002) |
| Standard | Strict liability, negligence, warranty | Defect-based liability without fault |
| Punitive damages | Vary by state | Up to three times the loss |
| Time limits | State statutes of limitations and repose | 3 years from knowledge, 10 years from supply |
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Criticism and debate
Business groups argue that broad liability raises prices and insurance costs, discourages innovation and invites lawsuits, and many states have passed tort reform laws limiting damages. Consumer advocates answer that liability gives companies strong reasons to make products safer and that injured people should not bear the cost of hidden defects. Similar debates in Korea focus on whether the three-times cap and the development risk defense leave victims of mass harm undercompensated.
If a product injures you, photograph everything and get medical records right away. Time limits start running sooner than most people expect.
- Do I have to prove the company was negligent?
- Not under strict liability. You generally must show the product was defective, the defect existed when it left the defendant's control, and it caused your injury.
- Can I sue the store that sold the product?
- In most states, yes, sellers in the chain of distribution can be held strictly liable, though some states limit claims against sellers who did not make the product.
- How long do I have to file a product liability claim?
- It depends on the state, often two to four years from the injury, and some states also bar claims a fixed number of years after the product was first sold.
References and official sources
- Products liability. Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute
- Recalls and product safety warnings. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission
- 제조물책임법. 국가법령정보센터