Failure to Warn
Definition
A claim that the manufacturer failed to provide adequate instructions or warnings about a non-obvious risk, such that a user could not make an informed decision about safe operation.
- Legal category
- Product liability claim
- Basis
- Inadequate instructions or warnings about a non-obvious risk
- Harm alleged
- User unable to make an informed decision about safe operation
- Related claim types
- Design defect, manufacturing defect
Common questions
How does a failure-to-warn claim differ from a design defect claim?+
A design defect claim argues the product itself was unreasonably dangerous even with proper use, while a failure-to-warn claim accepts the design but argues the manufacturer did not adequately communicate a known, non-obvious risk, so an engineering expert's role shifts from evaluating the physical design to evaluating what the manufacturer knew and disclosed.
What makes a risk non-obvious for failure-to-warn purposes?+
A risk is generally considered non-obvious when an ordinary user, exercising reasonable care and applying common knowledge, would not anticipate it from the product's appearance or normal use, which is why warnings law does not require labeling every conceivable hazard, only those a typical user could not otherwise recognize.
Related terms
- Consumer Expectation Test
- A design-defect test asking whether the product failed to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect when used in an...
- Design Defect
- A flaw present in every unit of a product because the product category itself was conceived in a way that made it...
- Foreseeable Misuse
- A use of a product that the manufacturer could reasonably predict, even though it differs from the intended purpose. Courts may hold...
- Manufacturing Defect
- A deviation in a specific production unit from the manufacturer's approved design specification, occurring during manufacturing, assembly, or handling before sale. The...
- Risk-Utility Test
- A design-defect test that weighs the probability and severity of harm, the burden of adopting a safer alternative design, and the utility...