This guide covers product liability from the first client contact through trial. It begins with the elements common to every claim and the three defect theories that require entirely different proof. Design defect chapters treat the competing consumer expectations and risk-utility tests, the reasonable alternative design requirement that decides most cases, and the factors courts actually weigh. Warning chapters cover adequacy, the causation problem that defeats most warning claims, the heeding presumption, the learned intermediary doctrine, and post-sale duties. Later chapters cover causation in fact and proximate cause, the chain of distribution and innocent seller statutes, the full defense catalogue including misuse, alteration, state of the art, and statutes of repose, and federal preemption across medical devices, drugs, vehicles, and pesticides. Practice chapters cover evidence preservation and spoliation, inspection protocols, expert selection and admissibility, discovery targets including the complaint file, damages and punitive exposure, and settlement.