Also known as: adequate warnings · adequately warn · adequately warned · adequately warning · sufficient warning
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A warning that reasonably alerts a product's average user to a potential hazard and fairly conveys the nature and extent of the danger. It must be displayed prominently and include notice of the hazard's existence, a description of its nature and possible consequences, and instructions on how to avoid it.
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Arcadia Retail placed bright signs and labels on its ladders warning users not to stand on the top rung. When a customer ignored the signs and fell, the court held that the warnings satisfied the duty of care because they were reasonably calculated to reach users and convey the risk.
Azure Solutions supplied its prescription pain medication with detailed risk information sent directly to prescribing doctors. When a patient suffered side effects, the court ruled the manufacturer had no liability to the patient because the warnings to the physician were complete and the physician exercised independent judgment.
Alliance Holdings distributed updated safety data sheets about its chemotherapy drug to oncologists nationwide. A patient later claimed inadequate warning, but the court held the duty ran only to physicians as learned intermediaries, so the manufacturer satisfied its obligation by informing the medical community.
Anchor Bank faced prosecution under a state obscenity law for distributing certain materials. The court upheld the conviction because the statute's language gave adequate warning of the prohibited conduct when measured by common understanding, satisfying due process requirements.
Andre Antoine was arrested and questioned without being told of his right to remain silent. The court suppressed his statements because the absence of an adequate warning about the privilege against self-incrimination violated constitutional protections.
Anita Ali received Phenergan by direct arterial injection and suffered severe injury. The court held that the manufacturer's FDA-approved label provided an adequate warning of the known risks, so federal law did not preempt the state failure-to-warn claim on these facts.
A warning to the prescribing physician satisfies the duty when it is adequate and not misleading. The physician's independent judgment then breaks the causal chain to the patient unless the warnings themselves were deficient.
Supporting sources
The warning must exercise reasonable care, reach the endangered area, and address risks that arise from the absence of warning. It prevents a finding of negligence when the actor's interest in the act is paramount or the risk stems solely from lack of notice.
Supporting sources
…fear, effectively, and in a way that eliminates the evils in the interrogation process. Without the protections flowing from adequate warnings and the rights of counsel, "all the careful safeguards erected around the giving of testimony, whether by an accused or any other witness, would become empty formalities in a procedure…