Reframing Product Liability: Beyond Strict Liability-A Unified Structure of Manufacturing, Design, and Warning Duties

Product liability is often mischaracterized as a domain governed exclusively by strict liability. This Article challenges that assumption and clarifies that modern products liability incorporates both strict and negligence-based regimes within a single coherent structure. Manufacturing defects impose strict liability irrespective of care, while design defects and warning defects operate under a negligence framework grounded in risk-utility analysis.

When a product's utility justifies its design despite inherent risks, liability does not disappear but shifts to whether the manufacturer has taken reasonable steps-particularly through warnings or instructions-to mitigate foreseeable harm. This framework explains the functional role of warning duties and clarifies why the absence of instructions constitutes negligence only when such instructions are necessary to render use reasonably safe.