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.
Plainwell is a city in Allegan County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,933 at the 2000 census. Plainwell is located on M-89 just east of its junction with U.S. 131. The city of Otsego is about three miles to the west. Kalamazoo is about ten miles to the south and Grand Rapids about 35 miles north. The Kalamazoo River flows through the center of the city. Plainwell is the birth place of syndicated cartoonist Dave Coverly, creator of the Speed Bump comic strip, actor Ed Gale, famous for his role as Howard the Duck in the movie of the same name, and writer and journalist Kathleen Davis. The city also includes Plainwell Ice Cream, which recently received an award for being Southwest Michigan's Best Tasting Ice Cream. Its owners are Art and Judy Gaylord, who have been in business for 31 seasons. Though it sounds somewhat common, there are no other communities named Plainwell anywhere in the United States.