Manufacturers put products on the market with the implicit promise that they’re safe for their intended use. When a product fails that promise — through a flaw in how it was made, a design that was never safe to begin with, or warnings that were missing or buried — and someone gets hurt, Georgia law holds the manufacturer accountable.
Under O.C.G.A. § 51-1-11, Georgia imposes strict liability on manufacturers for products that were not merchantable and reasonably suited to their intended use when sold. You do not need to prove the manufacturer was reckless or indifferent — only that:
This is a meaningfulconsumer protection. Acompany that produces a genuinely dangerous product cannot escape liability simply by arguing it followed its own internal standards or wasn’t aware of the risk.
A manufacturing defect exists when a specific product deviates from the manufacturer’s own intended design during production. The design may have been safe — the particular unit you received wasn’t.
Examples: – A pharmaceutical batch contaminated during production – A vehicle safety component that received insufficient treatment on the assembly line – A medical device where a component was incorrectly installed at the factory – A food product contaminated by foreign material or pathogens during processing
A design defect exists when the product’s design itself is unreasonably dangerous — not because of how any particular unit was made, but because the design chosen was unsafe for foreseeable uses. Every unit is defective because every unit was built to the same dangerous design.
Georgia courts evaluate design defects under the risk-utility test established in Banks v. ICI Americas: whether the inherent risks of the design outweigh its utility and benefits, considering whether a feasible, safer alternative design existed. Aproduct that creates serious risk while a reasonable alternative was available and economically feasible is defectively designed.
Examples: – A vehicle with a rollover tendency known before launch – A power tool that
consistently ejects debris in a foreseeable direction with no guard – A prescription drug whose risks outweighed its therapeutic benefits at the approved dose
Having the product is ideal — it is criticalevidence. If you no longer have it, we can sometimes reconstruct the claim through purchase records, medical records documenting the injury, and expert analysis. If you still have the product, preserve it immediately and do not allow anyone to repair or discard it.
Generally it helps. Arecallestablishes that the manufacturer or a regulatory agency identified a safety defect. It supports the existence of a defect and the manufacturer’s knowledge. However, a recall does not guarantee recovery — we still need to establish that the defect caused your specific injury.
