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.
Eckhart Mines is an unincorporated town in Allegany County, Maryland, USA. Eckhart Mines lies at the southwestern base of Federal Hill, 2.9 km (1.8 mi) east of Frostburg and 1.3 km (0.8 mi) northwest of Clarysville. The town was originally founded as a company town for the nearby Eckhart Mines. The outcrop of the Pittsburgh coal seam here is known locally as the big vein or the 14 foot coal. The Eckhart Mines' location here was the first bituminous coal mine developed in the Georges Creek Valley coalfield because this is where The National Road crossed the coal outcrop. The Eckhart operation was owned by the Maryland Mining Company which eventually combined with other companies to form the Consolidation Coal Company.