California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Sacramento Regional Transit Dist. v. Grumman Flxible, 158 Cal.App.3d 289, 204 Cal.Rptr. 736 (Cal. App. 1984):
"A manufacturer is strictly liable in tort when an article he places on the market, knowing that it is to be used without inspection for defects, proves to have a defect that causes injury to a human being." (Greenman v. Yuba Power Products, Inc. (1963) 59 Cal.2d 57, 62, 27 Cal.Rptr. 697, 377 P.2d 897.)
"Subsequent cases have expanded the scope of the Greenman doctrine by imposing strict liability on retail dealers [citation]; wholesale and retail distributors [citation]; home builders [citations]; bailors and lessors of personal property [citations]; and licensors of chattels [citation]. The standard of strict liability has been held to apply to a defect in design as well as a defect in manufacture [citations] and extends not only to actual consumers or users but to any human being to whom an injury from the defect is reasonably foreseeable. [Citations.]" (Silverhart v. Mount Zion Hospital (1971) 20 Cal.App.3d 1022, 1026, 98 Cal.Rptr. 187.)
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