Strict product liability in New Jersey

Elements

1. 1

   Defendant in the chain

   The defendant designed, manufactured, or sold the product in the stream of commerce.

2. 2

   Defect

   The product was defective in design, manufacture, or warning when it left the defendant’s control.

3. 3

   Causation

   The defect caused the plaintiff’s injury while the product was used in a reasonably foreseeable way.

4. 4

   Damages

   Physical harm or, in some jurisdictions, specified economic loss.

Burden of proof

Preponderance of the evidence. The plaintiff generally does not have to prove negligence, but must prove a defect.

A New Jersey fact pattern

A Bergen County angle grinder sheds its guard. New Jersey's Product Liability Act is the usual frame: manufacturing defect, design defect, or failure to warn. Product identification (which brand, which lot) is the screen-out. A generic 'I got hurt by a tool' is not a file.