of contract. Furthermore, General Motors may also be found liable in its failure to meet the duty to warn of a continuing nature. However, the scope of the paper limits the analysis exclusively to establishing negligence.Negligence LawIn order to successfully establish General Motor’s negligence, the product liability case must comply with the following established principles:1)Is there a Duty of Care toward the injured party?Indisputably, General Motors has a duty of care. The responsibility of a manufacturer was established in Donaghue v. Stevenson, (1932) A.C. 562, which established the principle that manufacturers have the duty to ensure that the ultimate consumers of their product do not sustain injuries as a result of the use of their products. Manufacturers of goods and services are subject to a high duty of care given that these businesses commercially profit from the purchase and use of their products.2)What is the standard of care that should be applied in this particular instance?Once a duty of care has been established, the defendant(s) standard of care must then be determined. In view of the fact that General Motors stands to commercially gain a significant amount of revenue and profit from the sale of their products, these large multi-national firms are positioned with a high standard of care towards their ultimate consumer. Therefore, General Motors must exercise the coinciding requisite level of responsibility and diligence in not only the research and design of their products but also the development of their goods. 3)Has there been a breach of duty?There is a breach of duty of care since there is “a defect in the product itself which can cause injury to others”. (Adamson, p. 39) As a result of the inherent defect in the product itself, the principle of res ipsa loquitar applies in this potential product liability case. Thus, the onus is now upon General Motors to prove that they should no...
