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.
Atwater is a city located along U.S. Route 99 in Merced County, California, United States. Atwater is located 8 miles (13 km) west-northwest of Merced, at an elevation of 151 feet (46 m). The population as of August 19, 2006 is 27,972.