Wikipedia defines product liability as "the area of law in which manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, retailers, and others who make products available to the public are held responsible for the injuries those products cause."

Thousands of product liability claims are pursued against companies each year in the United States. According to Wikipedia, there are three basic areas upon which such claims are based: "design defect, manufacturing defect, and failure to warn." They also note that claims "may succeed even when products were used incorrectly by the consumer, as long as the incorrect use was foreseeable by the manufacturer (or other party in the "supply chain").

With those thoughts in mind, consider this story out of Texas today.

Man bursts into flames after being shot by a taser gun

Police are investigating the firey (sic) death of a man who burst into flames after dousing himself in petrol and then being shot with a taser gun. Officers used the gun after the man had poured gasoline over himself. Juan Flores Lopez, 47, died on Tuesday at a hospital in Texas. Police initially used pepper spray when they tried to take Lopez into custody. Then they used the Taser. Some stun guns emit an electric spark when they deliver the jolt of electricity. The Texas Rangers were also investigating whether a lighter that was on the porch could have contributed to the fire. "We don't know what ignited the fire," police said. No one else was injured in the confrontation. It was unclear whether Lopez had been charged with anything. Two of his sons who live nearby said their father had been threatening for months to burn himself and his house. His wife was seeking a divorce and he did not want to have to leave the house, the sons said.

Commentary

I, for one, would find it shocking if some enterprising and ambitious Texas attorney has not already started preparing a product liability against Taser for this horrific death. Before doing so, they'd do well to research the company's win-loss record:

TASER International, Inc. a market leader in advanced electronic control devices announced that the wrongful death product liability lawsuit filed by the estate of Leroy Pierson has been voluntarily dismissed against... This is the fiftieth (50th) wrongful death or injury lawsuit that has been dismissed or judgment entered in favor of TASER International. TASER International has not lost any product liability lawsuit.

With an impressive string of wins like this, I would be hard pressed to think Taser won't prevail in the lawsuits that will likely follow. That said, I do expect the incident to reignite the standing debate over whether Tasers are too dangerous for use on the streets.

Disclosure: the author of this post owns 100 shares of Taser.