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.
Mullan is a city located in a sheltered canyon of the Coeur d'Alène Mountains in Shoshone County in the northern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 840 at the 2000 census. The city is in the east end of the Silver Valley mining district; the elevation is 3250 feet (990 m) above sea level. The Lucky Friday mine is several hundred yards east of the city center The active mine descends more than 6000 feet (1.8 km) below the surface. Interstate 90 runs by the south side of the city, and the Montana border at Lookout Pass is 4 miles (7 km) east at 4700 feet (1432 m).