The liability of manufacturers and sellers of goods for a defective product or for its failure to perform adequately may be based on one or more of the following: negligence, misrepresentation, violation of a statutory duty, warranty, and strict liability in tort.

These are all recognized legal bases for product liability claims, where manufacturers and sellers can be held responsible for harm caused by defective products or failure to perform as expected. Negligence involves a breach of duty of care, misrepresentation involves providing false information about a product, violation of statutory duty involves breaking specific laws designed to protect consumers, warranty involves failing to fulfill the terms of a promise or guarantee made about the product, and strict liability in tort does not require proof of negligence but only that the product was defective and caused harm.