A college friend of mine, who is a long-time reader first-time writer, asked me
>whether or not you can be held liable if someone were to get injured with something you gave away for free
The brief answer is maybe not, but – in today’s litigious society – you still should expect to get sued.
“Product liability is the name currently given to the area of case law involving the liability of **sellers of chattels** to third persons with whom they are not in privity of contract. It may, infrequently, rest upon intent; but except in rare instances, it is a matter of negligence, or of strict liability.” Prosser, Law of Torts, 4th Ed. (quoted in *Ellis v. Rich’s Inc.,* 233 Ga. 573 (1975)).
The question for your liability on a give-away is whether a reasonable person would expect the giver of a promotional product to test the product for safety before giving it away.
Generally, a reasonable attorney would expect that the manufacturer of a product will test it for safety, and that the on-sellers of the product will demand contractual warranties of safety from their vendors. Thus, the products liability for a defective product (such as an exploding promotional vape) should track back to the manufacturer of the vape. A person who is not a “seller” of chattels might not be liable.
On the other hand, no reasonable person would expect someone to be handing out a dangerous freebie. So if you happen to give away a promotional item that then blows up in someone’s mouth, you should expect to get sued for your negligence. The good news is that “simple” negligence would be a better situation for you as the defendant, compared to the “strict” products liability rules.
