Product Misuse Products are generally designed to be used for a specific purpose and in a certain manner. A potential defense to a product liability claim exists where the plaintiff has used the product in a manner for which it was never intended, and is injured as a result of such use. For example, if a plaintiff uses an oven to dry his clothes, and the clothing catches on fire resulting in burns to the plaintiff, the oven manufacturer will assert the defense of product misuse, since it was not foreseeable to the manufacturer that someone would use an oven to dry clothing. The defense of product misuse hinges on whether or not it the misuse was foreseeable. Manufacturers of products are required to recognize that some misuse of the product is foreseeable, and to design their products to avoid foreseeable misuse. Product Alteration If the plaintiff has substantially altered a product after purchase, the plaintiff may not be able to recover from the manufacturer for a defective product.
For example, if the plaintiff purchases a ladder, and removes a device designed to lock the ladder into position because the plaintiff feels the device is too cumbersome to use, the plaintiff may not be able to recover in a product defect case if the ladder collapses because it was not properly locked into position. Control of the Defendant The plaintiff must be able to show that the product was defective when it left the control of the party against whom the product defect claim is made. In the case of a manufacturer, the product must have been defective at the time it was sold and delivered to the wholesaler.
For the wholesaler, the product must have been defective at the time it was sold and delivered to the retailer. For the retailer, the product must have been defective at the time it was sold and delivered to the consumer. If the condition of the product was altered after it left the control of the defendant, the defendant will not be liable for damages caused by the product, unless the change was reasonably foreseeable and within the scope of the intended use of the product.
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