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.
Middletown (formerly, Middle Station and Middleton) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lake County, California, United States. Middletown is located 11 miles (18 km) west of Lower Lake, at an elevation of 1099 feet (335 m). The population was 1,020 at the 2000 census. Middletown was given its name because it is halfway between Lower Lake to the north and Calistoga to the south.