{"id":353198,"date":"2016-04-04T10:46:40","date_gmt":"2016-04-04T15:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-law\/injury\/product-liability\/are-product-liability-disclaimers-effective.html"},"modified":"2023-10-12T14:47:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T19:47:00","slug":"are-product-liability-disclaimers-effective","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/injury\/product-liability\/are-product-liability-disclaimers-effective.html","title":{"rendered":"Do Product Liability Disclaimers Shield Manufacturers From Liability?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Do Product Liability Disclaimers Shield Manufacturers From Liability?<\/h1>\n\n
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\n By Christie Nicholson, J.D.<\/a> | Legally reviewed by Oni Harton, J.D.<\/a>\n | Last updated\n
\n \n <\/i>\n Legally Reviewed\n <\/summary>\n\n
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The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/details>\n<\/section>\n\n\n

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Product liability disclaimers are generally not effective in shielding manufacturers from liability in personal injury cases, due to strict liability laws and implied warranties. Courts typically do not uphold general disclaimers because consumers cannot bargain away their warranty rights. But some disclaimers may carry more weight if they clearly warn against misuse and help support a defense of assumption of risk.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n

When you purchase a product at a store or online, it usually comes with instructions. Sometimes, these instructions contain a disclaimer<\/a>. A disclaimer is a written message the product manufacturer includes with its product to limit civil liability.<\/p>\n

For example, a product may have a warning on its labeling or packaging stating, “Product not intended for children under the age of five.” The manufacturer or retailer wants to avoid consumers suing them for damages should a young child choke or get hurt while using their product.<\/p>\n

But do these disclaimers stand up in court?<\/p>\n

The courts apply strict liability in most product liability cases. However, sometimes you must sue under tort law<\/a>. If you’re hurt while using a defective product, such as a defective medical device, your attorney<\/a> will decide which legal theory is best to pursue in your case.<\/p>\n

Do Disclaimers Protect Manufacturers from Liability?<\/h2>\n

Generally, no. A product liability disclaimer usually doesn’t shield a manufacturer from liability in a typical personal injury case. For customers, the law guarantees that the product will be safe when used in a\u00a0reasonably foreseeable<\/a>\u00a0way.<\/p>\n

Manufacturers often try to avoid this responsibility by inserting a written disclaimer in the product’s instructions or packaging. However, these disclaimers usually don’t count for much since, as a customer, you haven’t bargained for the loss of your warranty rights.<\/p>\n

General disclaimers only work with written contracts. If you enter into a written agreement with the manufacturer, and that contract contains a disclaimer clause, then the courts will determine that you bargained for the disclaimer.<\/p>\n

In other words, the judge will find that you were aware of the danger and decided to buy and use the product anyway. Because of the manufacturing defect, you may have obtained the item for a lower price or\u00a0needed the thing so badly that you didn’t care about any product defects.<\/p>\n

In the individual customer setting, written contracts aren’t standard. However, they happen regularly for handmade and other custom, high-priced products.<\/p>\n

Implied Warranties<\/h2>\n

When you buy a product on the open market, the product comes with a warranty. The defendant may have to compensate you if your product liability lawyer can prove the defendant breached its warranty claims<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You may wonder what your warranty rights are. For purposes of product liability cases, there are two warranties you need to know about. These include the\u00a0implied warranty of merchantability<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.\u00a0These warranties promise that the product is safe and designed well enough for its use as the designer intended.<\/p>\n

The manufacturer makes these implied promises.<\/a>\u00a0Manufacturers do not need to spell them out whenever you buy their product. The implied warranty may seem fairly broad and powerful. Remember that they only cover situations where the customer’s use is reasonably foreseeable.<\/p>\n

Customers who use products in ways that aren’t reasonably foreseeable, such as using a lawnmower to trim body hair, cannot then go to trial and claim that an unsafe product injured them. The judge will consider the plaintiff’s use of the product.<\/p>\n

Every state has its statutes dealing with these implied warranties. For example,\u00a0California Civil Code Section 1791.1<\/a>\u00a0states that a product must meet four conditions to honor the implied warranty of merchantability:<\/p>\n