AN INTRODUCTION TO PRODUCT LIABILITY LAW When a person is injured by a defective product that is unreasonably dangerous or unsafe, the injured person may have a claim or cause of action against the company that designed, manufactured, sold, distributed, leased, or furnished the product. In other words, the company may be liable to the person for his injuries and, as a result, may be required to pay for his damages. That, in short, is product liability; and, not surprisingly, the law that governs this kind of liability is referred to as product liability law. This article is intended to serve as a brief introduction to product liability law, especially as it relates to food. However, before we embark on our introductory tour of this subject, a few words of warning are necessary. First, you should keep in mind that whole books have been written about product liability law and that this article is, by necessity, an oversimplification of a complex subject. Second, for every general rule described below, you should assume that there exists innumerable exceptions. That is the way the law is, and, if it were otherwise, there would be a lot of lawyers out of work. Finally, you should remember that, as a rule, the law is different from state to state, and product liability law is no exception to this rule. A BRIEF HISTORY OF STRICT PRODUCT LIABILITY LAW AN INJURY WITH NO REMEDY AT LAW It is exceedingly rare, in the law, when one can point to a general rule that is both well established and uniformly followed.