Design Defect | Strict Liability
A manufacturer may be held strictly liable for placing an otherwise well made and safely designed product into the stream of commerce. A product may also be found to be defective even if its design does not deviate from industry custom and norm. Nor does the fact that the product has been used thousands of times without injury rule out that the product was defective. A product may also be found to be defective even if it complied with government safety standards.
Design Defect | Consumer Expectation Test
An injury plaintiff may claim that a product’s design was defective because it did not perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would have expected it to perform. To be successful with this claim, the victim must establish all of the following:
- That the defendant manufactured (distributed, sold, etc.) the product;
- That the product did not perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would have expected;
- That the plaintiff was harmed (or killed); and
- That the defective product’s failure to perform safely was a substantial factor in causing the victim’s harm (or death).
Consumer Expectation Test | Rational
The purposes, behaviors and dangers of certain products are commonly understood. In some cases, ordinary knowledge of the products characteristics may permit an inference that the product did not perform as safely as it should.
Example Scenario 1: The 5-point harness, and seat in a Polaris off-road vehicle should secure you tightly and firmly without exposing any part of your body with the ground or vehicle in a roll-over. If indeed you are exposed to injury, then you may claim that the Polaris was defective.
Design Defect | Fitness and Merchantability
A cause of action based on design defect acknowledges the relationship between strict tort liability for a defective product and the common law doctrine of warranty which holds that a product’s presence on the market includes and implied representation that it will safely do the job for which it was built.

Ordaz Law, APC | Design Defect
Juan J. Ordaz Jr. provides candid, hardworking and personal legal representation to individuals seeking a design defect, personal injury lawyer in San Diego County. We help victims suffering from a variety of injuries who have sustained their injuries through the use of different consumer products that have been placed into the “stream of commerce” by manufacturers, distributors and retailers.
We believe that it is a necessity to represent people who have sustained traumatic and debilitating injuries, and suffered ultimate losses.
Call (619) 550-3617 today so that we may schedule your free and discreet consultation with a premier San Diego design defect, personal injury lawyer.
We are for Justice no Matter Who it’s for or Against.
Learn More:
What is the Statute of Limitations for a Personal Injury Action?
What Should You Expect from Your Personal Injury Attorney?
What Should You Expect from Your Injury Lawsuit?
Will My Personal Injury Case Go To Trial or Be Settled?
Product Liability | Personal Injury
Manufacturing Defect | Injuries
Design Defect | Failure to Warn
Design Defect | Risk Benefit Test
Blog: Personal Injury
Product Defect | Personal Injury
Strict Liability | Personal Injury
Sources and Useful Links:
CACI 1203. Strict Liability – Design Defect – Consumer Expectation Test