Product liability refers to a claim or lawsuit against a manufacturer or seller of a product for the recovery of damages related to personal injury, death, or property damage claimed to be caused by a defective product.

The claim or lawsuit may be based on the legal theories of strict tort liability, strict products liability, negligence, misrepresentation, breach of express or implied warranty, or any other theory or combination of theories.

Product liability claims may be made against the manufacturer of component parts, an assembling manufacturer, the wholesaler, and the retailer. And product liability claims may be made by the consumer who purchased the product or by someone else who borrowed or used the product.

Product liability laws vary from state to state, and product liability claims may be based on the state’s court opinions (also known as case law or common law) or on the state’s statutes—which are usually the version of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) adopted by the state.

For example, under a state’s version of Article 2 of the UCC (dealing with sales of goods) there are implied warranties of merchantability and of fitness of the goods for a particular purpose included in every sale of goods. In some states these warranties may be waived by agreement, but in other states they may not be waived. See U.C.C. §2-314 and U.C.C. §2-315.

And under a strict liability theory of products liability, the amount of care or precaution taken by the manufacturer is not relevant—the manufacturer will be liable for the harm result from the defective product.

To prevail on a products liability claim, the claimant or plaintiff must prove the product:

• was defective in its design (a design defect) because there was a safer alternative design for the product;

• was defective in its manufacture (a manufacturing defect) because its production departed from the intended design, was significantly or materially different from the other products of the same design, did not work as intended, and was more dangerous to the consumer than expected; or

• was defective in its marketing (a marketing defect) because the product’s advertising and instructions for use were inadequate or failed to warn consumers of hidden (latent) dangers in the product.

In Ohio, product liability claims can be based on various legal theories, including strict tort liability, negligence, misrepresentation, and breach of warranty, among others. These claims can be directed at any party in the product's distribution chain, from the manufacturer of component parts to the retailer. Ohio's product liability statutes are codified in the Ohio Revised Code (ORC), which includes provisions similar to the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) regarding implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Under Ohio law, these warranties can be disclaimed or modified under certain conditions. Strict liability in Ohio means that a manufacturer can be held liable for a defective product regardless of the level of care they exercised, provided the claimant can prove the product had a design defect, manufacturing defect, or marketing defect. A design defect requires showing that a safer alternative design was feasible, a manufacturing defect requires showing a deviation from the intended design, and a marketing defect involves inadequate instructions or failure to warn consumers about potential dangers. It is important for claimants to establish that the defect was the direct cause of their injury or damage to succeed in a product liability claim.