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.
Hurley is an unincorporated community in Buchanan County, Virginia located at the convergence of County Routes 643, 646, 650, and 697, a short distance from the Kentucky and West Virginia state lines. Hurley suffered devastating floods in 2002 which nearly wiped out the town.