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.
Westlake Village is an incorporated city located on the western edge of Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city, located in the region known as the Conejo Valley, encompasses half of the area surrounding Westlake Lake, and small neighborhoods primarily south of U.S. Route 101 and east of La Venta Drive. The population was 8,368 at the 2000 census. It is also the headquarters of the Dole Food Company. Westlake Village is known for its affluence and secluded character, and is considered one of the wealthiest communities in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Westlake Village is a planned community built around an artificial lake straddling the Los Angeles-Ventura county line; it is a master-planned suburb of lakeside condos and suburban homes. The original community was divided by the Los Angeles and Ventura County boundary and known simply as "Westlake". The area located in Ventura County, or roughly two-thirds of the community, was annexed by the City of Thousand Oaks in two portions, in 1968 and 1972. In 1981, the remaining third eventually incorporated as the City of Westlake Village.