Negligence, Strict Liability, and Manufacturer Failure to Warn: On Fitting Round Pegs in a Square Hole

In the common law provinces of Canada, it is generally recognized that a plaintiff in a products liability action in tort must prove four elements in order to succeed: first, that the product contains a defect traceable either to its manufacture, to its design, orto its warnings or instructions; second, that the defendant manufacturer was somehow negligent in connection with this defect; third, that there is some causal connection between the manufacturer's negligence and the damages suffered by the plaintiff; and fourth, that these damages are such as to give rise to compensation in law. In the United States, in the majority of states adhering to a theory of strict tort liability, the plaintiff in such an action is relieved of the obligation of proving the second element. However, the plaintiff must still establish the existence of a defect, recognized damages, and a causal connection between the two.