Product Liability Flashcards
Which act provides the statutory basis for claims regarding damage by defective products?
Consumer Protection Act 1987
How does the CPA approach liability?
Strictly - no requirement to show fault.
How does the act define “product”?
Any goods or electricity including a product comprised in another product, by being a component part, raw material or otherwise.
How does the act define “defect”?
There is a defect if the safety is not such as persons are generally entitled to expect
What people are entitled to expect depends on the following:
- The manner / purposes for which it has been marketed
- What the product is used for
- The time in which the product was supplied
What is the difference of the standard of care in the CPA vs negligence?
Act demands considerably more than the negligence standard. A v National Blood Authority - expectations differ based on specific products.
How does the act define “damage”?
Death or personal injury or any loss or damages to any property, including land.
Excludes PEL.
How does the act limit the extend of damages that can be claimed?
No claim can be brought under £275, excluding interest
No claim for business losses - must be for private use / occupation / consumption.
Who is liable for damage?
The producer of the product (manufacturer, person who won / abstracted it, person who carried out a process)
Anyone who held themselves out to be the producer of the product
An importer of the product
What if a consumer asks for details of the producer / importer within a reasonable time, and the supplier doesn’t produce it?
The supplier then becomes liable.
What happens to liability if more than one person is liable for the damage?
They are joint and severally liable
Who can bring a claim?
Consumers, not businesses. Not limited to the person who bought it - anyone suffering damage as a result of the defect can sue.
If a product damages a consumer’s property during a B 2 B transaction; the consumer can bring a claim under the Act.
What defences apply to a CPA claim?
The defect did not exist in the product at the relevant time
the state of scientific / technical knowledge at the relevant time was not such that a producer should have discovered the defect while under their control.
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How do exemption clauses apply to the CPA?
They are prohibited, alongside limitation clauses.
How does the Act limit claims?
Claim must be brought within three years from the later of
A) the date the injury / damage occurred
b) when the claimant became aware or should reasonably have become aware of the damage
Long stop of 10 years after the product was put into circulation.
Why might a claimant opt for a negligence claim?
Where the loss is anything aside from personal injury, the tort of negligence allows 6 years vs 3 years under the CPA
Why might a claimant opt for a CPA claim?
no need for harm to be foreseeable under the CPA
Simpler causation structure - must only be wholly or partly caused.
Under negligence, who do manufacturers owe a duty to?
Final purchaser, other users of the product, and any party who comes into contact with it.
Who else may become liable, aside from the manufacturers?
Repairers may be liable, suppliers or distributors if they should have inspected the product; no absolute duty to do this but it will depend on the circumstances.
Manufacturers will remain liable if they have no reason to contemplate that an intermediate inspection will occur.
When may proving breach for a negligence claim become increasingly difficult?
If the issue is connected to the design of the product, not its manufacture.What
What might break a chain of causation?
Failure to test a product as directed or use it as directed.
What question should be asked when considering whether a manufacturer has breached any duty owed?
Did the manufacturer fall below the standard of a reasonably competent manufacturer?
