The group of laws which hold manufacturers, distributors, and retailers liable for any damages or injuries their products cause is referred to as product liability. In New Jersey, a manufacturer or retailer is liable if the Plaintiff can prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the product was not reasonably fit, suitable or safe for its intended purpose because it deviated from the design specifications, formula, or performance standards of the manufacturer or from identical units manufactured to the same manufacturing specification, failed to contain adequate warnings or instructions, or was designed in a defective manner. 

New Jersey Personal Injury Law: Exemptions from Liability 

A manufacturer may be exempt from liability under New Jersey law if at the time the product was manufactured there was not a practical and technically feasible alternative design that would have prevented the harm without substantially impairing the function of the product, the harm was caused by a characteristic of the product that is inherently unsafe and a reasonable person would have known it to be unsafe, or the harm was caused by an unavoidably unsafe characteristic of the product which had adequate warnings and instructions. New Jersey law defines an adequate warning as one that a reasonably prudent person in similar circumstances would have provided with respect to the danger and that provides adequate information about the dangers and the safe use of the product. The warning should also take into account the ordinary knowledge common to the persons by whom the product is intended to be used, or in the case of prescription drugs, the prescribing physician. 

N.J.S.A. 2A:58C-3 [Drawing]provides that where there was not a practical and technically feasible alternative design that would have prevented the harm, a manufacturer may still be liable if the Court finds:  

1. The product is egregiously unsafe or ultra-hazardous; 
2. The ordinary user or consumer of the product cannot reasonably be expected to have knowledge of the product's risks, or the product poses a risk of serious injury to persons other than the user or consumer; and 
3. The product has little or no usefulness. 

N.J.S.A. 2A:58C-11 exempts a health care provider from liability for claims arising from injuries caused by a defective medical devise unless: 

1. The provider has exercised some significant control over the design, manufacture, packaging or labeling of the medical device relative to the alleged defect in the device which caused the injury, death or damage; or  
2. The provider knew or should have known of the defect in the medical device which caused the injury, death or damage, or the plaintiff can affirmatively demonstrate that the provider was in possession of facts from which a reasonable person would conclude that the provider had or should have had knowledge of the alleged defect in the medical device which caused the injury, death or damage; or  
3. The provider created the defect in the medical device which caused the injury, death or damage. 

Source: lexisnexis/NJ codes cited