Most product-users may file a defective product lawsuit. You do not have to be the purchaser of the defective product in order to make a defective product claim. If you were injured by a defective product that was given to you or borrowed from a friend, you may still have a products liability claim. Any person who is injured by a defective product and was a foreseeable user of the product can recover for his or her injuries.
This means you do not even have to be the owner or the original purchaser to file a defective product complaint. Any foreseeable user of the product may hold the manufacturer or seller liable for injuries that were suffered because of a defect in the product. Although, whether or not you are the original purchaser of the product may affect the route to proving defective product liability.
The Regular Course of Business Requirement for Strict Liability
Under strict liability a party may be held strictly liable, or responsible, for your damages caused by the defective product, only if the defective product was sold in the regular course of business. So, if you bought the defective product from your neighbor’s moving sale or off of Craigslist, strict liability will not apply.
What is Strict Liability?
A responsible party may be held liable for a product’s defect based on negligence, breach of warranty, and/or strict liability.
Strict liability means you only have to prove that the product was defective and caused you harm, but you do not have to prove that the manufacturer or seller was negligent or acted unreasonably.
Manufacturers have a duty to make sure their products will not cause injury to consumers, if your injury is caused by a product defect and occurred through no fault of your own, the manufacturer may be strictly liable.