In product liability lawsuits, plaintiffs may sue for damages from defects caused at any stage of manufacture and distribution, ranging from the making of the product to the retailer that sold it. This can include a company that made a faulty component, the assemblers of those parts, and the wholesaler of the product.
The prosecutor must prove that a defect in one of those stages caused injury to a consumer who purchased or was given the product. Although many causes involve individual tangible property, liability law has also been invoked for real estate, animals, writings, and other categories.
Three types of damages exist in product liability. Plaintiffs can sue for defects in design, in which a fault was present before manufacture. Though such an item may perform its tasks well, a design flaw could render its use dangerous.
In a manufacturing flaw, only some of a set of similar items may be dangerous. Other potential areas of liability are marketing errors, such as mistakes in documentation that could place consumers at hidden risk.
In all types of cases, it is sufficient to prove the defective nature of a product. It does not matter how much care the defendant took while creating it.