The Engineer and Product Liability

One result of the recent increase in product liability litigation has been the involvement of engineers in the legal environment. This involvement has been developed through changing theories of liability and increasing sophistication of engineered products.

This paper illustrates typical involvement of an engineer in products liability litigation and emphasizes the differences between practicing engineering in a technical environment and in a nontechnical, legal environment.

A brief historical discussion of the breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, and strict liability theories of products liability is also presented.