Because breach of warranty claims are based in contract law, you must have a contractual relationship to the plaintiff.


Unlike negligence or strict liability claims, which can be brought by anyone who happened to be injured by your product, the plaintiff must have a specific legal relationship – called "privity" – with you to sue you for breach of warranty.Privity typically is established by a written contract, although the precise definition of privity varies among states. Usually, the plaintiff must be the person who purchased the product directly from you.Even if your product was defective, you can successfully defend against a breach of warranty claim by proving the plaintiff was not a party to the contract under which the product was sold., When you entered into a contract with the plaintiff, you sold a product designed to fit a particular purpose.


There are two basic warranties that courts infer are included in every contract: an implied warranty of merchantability and a warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. Much like strict liability claims, breach of these warranties hinges on the plaintiff proving that the product was defective.Essentially, the plaintiff told you what he or she needed to do, and you provided a product that would fulfill that need. There is an implied understanding that the product you sold the plaintiff would function and meet the plaintiff's specifications.To succeed on a breach of warranty claim, therefore, the plaintiff must prove that she told you her particular needs and you promised to meet those needs, but the product you provided failed to live up to that promise., As with strict liability, you have a defense against a breach of warranty claim if the plaintiff altered your product or used it for an unintended purpose.

If the plaintiff made substantial changes to your product after he or she received it, you may not be liable for her injuries.As in strict liability, you must show the original design for your product, how the plaintiff modified it, and that those modifications caused the plaintiff's injuries.Common examples of a plaintiff's modification that can be used as a defense include removal of safety guards intended to prevent injury, if the plaintiff's injury is the same as the injuries the guard was designed to prevent.You also can defend yourself in a product liability lawsuit based on breach of warranty by proving that the plaintiff got injured while using your product in a way it was never intended.As with strict liability claims, the misuse must be unforeseeable, such as if the plaintiff used a meat slicer as a diaper-changing table.
 The contract the plaintiff signed may include provisions on advance notice of a potential breach of warranty claim.


Most contracts use boilerplate language to address the implied warranty of merchantability and the warranty of fitness. These clauses typically require written notice of a breach of warranty claim within a certain period of time after the injury.If the plaintiff fails to comply with the notice provisions in the contract, he or she is considered in breach of the contract itself, and will not prevail in the lawsuit over this defense.Many warranty provisions also limit the amount of damages the plaintiff can recover in a breach of warranty action, typically allowing only repair or replacement of the defective product.If the plaintiff's contract includes such a limitation, you should compare it to the damages the plaintiff is demanding in the lawsuit.
Evaluate your relationship to the plaintiff.
Analyze the plaintiff's use of the product in light of the contract.
Determine whether the plaintiff modified or misused your product.
Check the contract's notice requirements.
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