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Strict Liability
Imagine being injured by a defective product that exploded without warning or being hurt in a workplace accident involving inherently dangerous materials
In traditional personal injury cases, you'd face the daunting task of proving the defendant acted negligently by gathering evidence of their careless behavior, demonstrating they breached their duty of care, and connecting that breach to.
Strict liability law eliminates this burden entirely. Under this legal doctrine, certain defendants can be held responsible for injuries they cause, regardless of how carefully they acted or how many safety precautions they took.
Maryland
If the answer is yes, they may be liable even if they followed every safety protocol and industry standard. Scheduled free consultation with our Long Island personal injury lawyer today!
The Core Principle of Strict Liability: Accountability Without Fault.
The concept of strict liability can seem unusual at first because it removes the element of blame from the equation. The law recognizes that some activities are so inherently dangerous that the person or company engaging in them must bear full responsibility for any harm that results, even if they took precautions.
It is a public policy choice designed to protect the public and incentivize the highest possible level of safety in high risk environments.
Negligence claim: To win, you must prove four things:
- Their breach directly caused your injuries.
- You suffered actual damages like, medical bills, lost wages.
- The other party owed you a duty of care such as, to drive safely.
- They breached that duty such as, they ran a red light.
With a strict liability claim, the path is more direct. You typically need to prove:
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- The law recognizes that some activities and products are so inherently risky that those who profit from them should bear full responsibility when things go wrong.
- This principle fundamentally changes the landscape for injury victims. Instead of building a case around someone's mistakes, strict liability focuses on a simple question: did the defendant's product, activity, or property cause your harm.
- The activity or condition was subject to strict liability rules.
- The activity or condition caused your injury.
- You suffered actual damages.
- You do not have to prove the defendant was careless, did something wrong, or failed to do something right. The liability is absolute.
- Strict liability does not apply to every accident. It is reserved for specific circumstances where the risk of harm is significant, and the law places the burden of safety entirely on one party.
- In Maryland, these situations primarily involve unsafe work sites, defective products, and abnormally dangerous activities.
Maryland
Unsafe Work Sites: Maryland’s Strict Liability for Workers
Under this law, if a worker is injured in a fall from a height or is struck by a falling object, the property owner and general contractor are held 100% liable, with very few exceptions.
Construction is the backbone of Maryland, but it is also one of its most dangerous industries. To protect workers, Maryland enacted special laws that are among the strongest in the nation.
It does not matter if the owner or contractor was not directly supervising the work. The fact that the accident happened and proper safety devices were not in place is enough to establish liability.
Maryland
Gravity Related Accidents Covered by Strict Liability
This law holds owners and general contractors accountable for a range of elevation related risks present on construction sites. Under the statute, liability is imposed when specific workplace hazards cause a worker's injury.
Falls from unsecured, defective, or inadequate ladders for the assigned task.
Injuries resulting from the collapse or failure of scaffolds, hoists, and other temporary work platforms.
Falls from any unprotected height, such as roofs, open floors, or structural beams.
Harm caused by tools, equipment, or building materials falling from an overhead level.
The power of this law is that it often removes any argument about the worker's own conduct. The focus remains entirely on the failure of the owner and contractor to provide a safe work environment.
Injuries from Defective and Dangerous Products
When you buy a product, you have a right to expect it to be safe for its intended use. If a product is defective and causes injury, the companies in the chain of commerce can be held strictly liable.
This means you do not have to prove that the company was negligent in how it designed or made the product. You only need to show that the product was defective and that the defect caused your injury.
Strict liability in product cases typically arises from one of three types of defects:
- Design defects: The problem is with the product's blueprint. Even when it is manufactured perfectly and used as intended, it is unreasonably dangerous.
- Manufacturing defects: The design is safe, but a mistake during the manufacturing process makes a specific unit or batch dangerous.
- Marketing defects Failure to Warn: The product has non obvious dangers, and the manufacturer fails to provide adequate warnings or instructions for its safe use.
Responsibility can extend to multiple parties in the distribution chain:
- The product manufacturer.
- The manufacturer of a component part.
- The wholesaler or distributor.
- The retail store that sold the product.
- Harm caused by unusually dangerous activities.
- The third major category of strict liability involves activities that are considered abnormally dangerous. These activities involve a high degree of risk of serious harm that cannot be eliminated even with extreme care and are not in common usage.
- A person or company that engages in such an activity is held strictly liable for any harm.
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Common examples:
- Using explosives for blasting in a populated area.
- Transporting or storing hazardous, toxic chemicals.
- Keeping wild or dangerous animals. If someone owns a lion, and it escapes and injures someone, the owner is strictly liable. The injured person does not need to prove the owner was careless in how they built the enclosure.
How Compensation Is Determined in a Strict Liability Case:
While strict liability laws make it easier to establish who is responsible, they do not automatically determine the value of your claim. You must still prove the full extent of your damages.
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