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.
Wheaton is an affluent community, located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately 25 miles (40 km) west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 55,676. It is a part of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Illinois Technology and Research Corridor.