Strict Liability

Strict liability is a legal rule that holds a manufacturer or seller responsible for harm caused by its product without the injured person having to prove the company was careless or negligent. In asbestos cases, it generally means the patient must show the product was unreasonably dangerous and caused the disease, not that the company failed to meet some standard of care.

Origin

Strict liability for dangerous activities traces to the 1868 English case Rylands v. Fletcher. Modern product strict liability in the United States was crystallized in California's Greenman v. Yuba Power Products (1963) and Section 402A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1965), which most states adopted in some form during the 1960s and 1970s, just as asbestos lawsuits began to expand.

Significance in Asbestos Context

Strict liability is one of the main legal theories used in asbestos cases because it relieves the patient of having to prove what a company knew, when it knew it, or how carelessly it acted, facts that can be hard to reconstruct decades after exposure. Instead, the focus is on whether the product (insulation, joint compound, brake lining, gasket, etc.) was defective or unreasonably dangerous when sold, and whether it was a substantial factor in causing the disease. Defendants often respond by arguing the "state of the art" defense (that asbestos hazards were not known at the time), by challenging product identification, or by pointing to other exposures. Whether and how strict liability applies varies by state. Some states limit it for prescription products or component parts, and a few apply only negligence theories to certain defendants.

Example Sentence

Under strict liability, the patient's legal team did not have to prove the insulation manufacturer was careless, only that its asbestos product was defective and contributed to causing his mesothelioma.

Related Terms

Product Liability, Negligence, Failure to Warn, Substantial Factor Test, State of the Art Defense, Design Defect

Notes

• Ask your legal team which causes of action they are pursuing in your case, strict liability, negligence, failure to warn, and breach of warranty are often pleaded together, and the rules differ by state.
• Preserve every piece of product identification evidence you can: brand names, employer records, union records, co-worker statements, photographs of job sites, and old purchase or shipping documents. Strict liability still requires linking specific products to your exposure.
• The "state of the art" defense, that the hazards were unknown at the time, is one of the most common defenses; your attorneys will likely use historical corporate documents and medical literature to rebut it.
• If your exposure occurred in multiple states or involved military or maritime work, ask which state's law (or federal maritime law) will govern, because the availability and scope of strict liability differ across jurisdictions.