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.
Wheatland is a borough in Mercer County, Pennsylvania, along the Shenango River. The population was 748 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Youngstown–Warren–Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area. Wheatland suffered extensive damage on May 31, 1985, when a severe tornado struck the area. The tornado killed 18 (seven of whom were Wheatland residents), injured over 300, and was easily the most powerful and damaging in Pennsylvania's history.