Products liability doctrine holds a manufacturer, or other party involved in selling a product, strictly liable when an article, placed into the market with knowledge that it is to be used without inspection for defects, proves to have a defect that causes a personal injury. Consumers who are injured because of a fault with a product that the consumers had no ability to protect themselves against may recover against the manufacturer under a theory of products liability.
Batesville is the largest city in and the county seat of Independence County, Arkansas, United States, 80 miles (183 km) northeast of Little Rock, the state capital. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 9,556. The city serves as a regional manufacturing and distribution hub for the Ozark Mountain region and northeast Arkansas.