Christopher Duggan Authors "Product Warnings in an Increasingly Multicultural Society" for DRI's National Magazine

A product may be determined to be defective by virtue of defects in its design, manufacture, or as a result of inadequate warnings or instructions. The parameters of appropriate product instructions and warnings are outlined in the Restatement (Third) of Torts:

[A product] is defective because of inad- equate instructions or warnings when the foreseeable risks of harm posed by the product could have been reduced or avoided by the provision of reasonable instructions or warnings by the seller or other distributor, or a predecessor in the commercial chain of distribution, and the omission of the instructions or warnings renders the product not rea- sonably safe.

Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Lia- bility §2(c) (1998). The applicable com- ments in the Restatement illustrate the complexities involved in determining the adequacy of instructions and warnings:

In evaluating the adequacy of product warnings and instructions, courts must be sensitive to many factors. It is impossible to identify anything approaching a perfect level of detail that should be communicated in product disclosures.

For example, educated or experienced product users and consumers may benefit from inclusion of more information about the full spectrum of product risks, whereas less-educated or unskilled users may benefit from more concise warnings and instructions stressing only the most crucial risks and safe-handling practices.

In some contexts, products intended for special categories of users, such as children, may require more vivid and unambiguous warnings. In some cases, excessive detail may detract from the ability of typical users and consumers to focus on the important aspects of the warnings, whereas in others reasonably full disclosure will be necessary to enable informed, efficient choices by product users. Product warnings and instructions can rarely communicate.