“Strict Liability” in California – 2 Scenarios Where It Applies

Strict liability is a legal doctrine in which, under limited circumstances, a defendant may be held liable for an injury even if he or she was not negligent or at fault for causing the injury.

California law only applies strict liability in two types of situations:

1. When the defendant has manufactured, distributed or sold a defective product that injures you, or
2. When a dog bites you in a public place or in a private place where you are not trespassing.

Manufacturers of Defective Products

Yes. In California, product manufacturers are held strictly liable for:

1. Designing inherently faulty products (“design defects”);
2. Poorly manufacturing otherwise safe products (“manufacturing defects”); and
3. Failing to warn consumers about the product’s dangers and risks (“warning defects”)

If a defective product causes you to suffer an injury, you do not have to prove that your injuries resulted from the manufacturer’s mistakes. Instead, you need to show that your injuries resulted from using the product in a “reasonably foreseeable” way that any consumer would.¹

The statute of limitations for bringing a strict liability lawsuit against a product manufacturer is two years after your injury.²

Learn more about California product liability laws.

Dog Owners

Yes. If you are bitten by a dog in California, you can sue the owner on strict liability grounds as long as:

• the bite occurred in a public place or a private location where you were allowed to be, and
• the bite was not in response to your provocation³

You have a two-year statute of limitations to sue the dog owner.⁴ Some owners’ homeowners’ or renters’ insurance policies cover personal injury claims involving dog bites.

Note that California does not follow the common law “one bite rule,” which makes owners liable only if the dog has a history of biting people.⁵

Also note that if a dog injured you but did not bite you, then you would instead sue the owner on negligence or negligence per se grounds instead of strict liability grounds.⁶

Learn more about California dog bite liability laws.

Why do I need a lawyer?

Winning a case at trial or obtaining a favorable settlement still requires proving that you were injured and that the defendant was legally responsible for an injury.

In the product liability setting, this means proving that the product was defective when it left the defendant’s possession.⁷

In the context of a dog bite, it often means proving the animal was not provoked.⁸

A lawyer can help you prove the elements of strict liability as well as help you prove compensatory damages for:

• Medical bills,
• Lost wages,
• Lost earning capacity, and
• Pain and suffering.

Your lawyer may also be able to help you recover punitive damages if the defendant was reckless.

Additional resources

For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:

• Strict Liability to the Consumer in California – Hastings Law Journal.
• Strict Products Liability in California: An Ideological Overview – University of San Francisco Law Review.
• The Workable Sanction and Solution in Excess Liability Cases: Strict Liability for Insurance Carriers – Insurance Law Review.
• Comparative Negligence in Strict Liability Cases – Journal of Air Law and Commerce.
• Let the Landlord Beware: California Imposes Strict Liability on Lessors of Rental Housing – Missouri Law Review.

Call us to discuss your case with a knowledgeable California personal injury lawyer.