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.
Portsmouth is an independent city located in the Hampton Roads metropolitan areas of the U.S. Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 100,565, and a 2008 Census estimate showed the city's population had slightly increased to 100,577.