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.
Ratcliff is an unincorporated community in Houston County in east Texas, United States. Founded in the early 1900s, Ratliff had a population of more than five thousand, with most working at a sawmill operated by the Louisiana and Texas Lumber Company. This Four C Mill used the 45-acre (180,000 m) lake that is the heart of Ratcliff Lake Recreation Area as its millpond. The recreation area is located within the Davy Crockett National Forest. Ratcliff is named for an early settler, J.H. Ratcliff, who operated a smaller sawmill, which cut the timber for the larger Four C Mill.