Top Product Liability Attorneys

Defective products pose great danger. Consumers are at risk of significant danger and can suffer horrific consequences and catastrophic injuries, such as wrongful death, burns, trauma to the spinal cord, traumatic brain injury, and amputations. Victims are entitled to file a product liability claim if they experience a catastrophic injury due to a defective product.

Dangerous Product Defects

There are three basic categories of product liability claims:

  • Defects due to Manufacturing – The manufacturing process can result in errors that alter products from their intended design and can result in dangerous products that can harm consumers. This includes dangerous products, such as, construction defects and defective airbags.
  • Defects due to Designs – Even well-manufactured products can be defective if their design is flawed. Products are defectively designed when the risk of harm while using a product is deemed to be greater than the possible benefits given the product specifications. This can often involve prescription drugs and medical devices. Implants and surgical meshes are examples.
  • Defects due to Marketing – Consumers have certain protections, including a requirement that manufacturers adequately warn consumers of the risks of using their products, the risk of product liability associated with them, and instructions for the safe use of the products.

In each case, many parties could potentially be held responsible for a dangerous or defective product.

Common Injuries from Consumer Product Accidents

Injuries from accidents involving consumer products can vary as the type and degree of injury can depend on the product and how it malfunctioned.

Here are examples of common injuries from consumer product accidents:

Faulty car parts (tires, seatbelts, airbags)

Car parts can malfunction and result in serious injuries and even death. Whenever you drive a car, you are trusting the manufacturer that the car will operate properly. That trust can be misplaced. Parts may fail to operate properly, which can be life-threatening. This is why big car companies spend so much time designing and testing cars. The damage and pain they can cause is enormous.

Home appliances

Home appliances often malfunction. Water heaters, toasters, and other appliances are common. Appliance defects can often cause serious third-degree burns, disfigurement, and even death.

Defective power tools

Power tools are intended to be used to fix things. Defective tools can break things and cause damage. This can include serious personal injury to us or the people that we love most. These cases raise questions as to the consumer’s own fault vs that of the manufacturer of the defective product.

Product-related sickness

Another consumer product malfunction injury is “sickness.” Children’s toys provide an example. They can contain a high level of phosphorus or lead or other chemicals that can lead to sickness. The manufacturer has primary liability for their negligence and faulty product in cases like this.

Who Can Be Held Liable for a Defective Product Injury?

Everyone in the supply chain and through to the final retailer can be liable for defective products. This can include retailers, distributors, manufacturers, and designers. These parties can all be culprits when defective products harm consumers.

State law applies strict liability to most defective product injury cases. This means that those involved in the creation, distribution, and sale or marketing of the consumer product can be responsible for the injury. This can be true even if their actions were not negligent and did not lead to the product’s defect. The consumer just has to prove that the product was defective and that it caused your injuries.

Possible culprits for defective product injuries can include:

  • Manufacturers (for both products and parts)
  • Independent Test Laboratories
  • Distributors
  • Suppliers
  • Sales Representatives
  • Retailers
  • Hospitals, Clinics, and Doctors

Product defect injuries create victims. This includes the consumer and even their families. Damages can include loss of income and earning capacity; long-term medical care costs; and pain, and suffering-all. These damages are incurred at a time when the victim is trying to heal and move on.

Our defective product lawyers help those injured focus on healing. We use our technological and financial resources to get help victims to get the compensation they are entitled to in their product liability lawsuits.

Proving the Product was Defective

Product liability claims have to pass a Consumer Expectation Test. This test considers whether:

  • The product used as intended or whether it was misused?
  • The product was unreasonably dangerous or defective?
  • The victim’s injuries are the result of the product’s defect(s) or the victims use or negligence?

These factors dictate what theory the victim can bring their product liability claim under–whether a defective design, manufacturing defect, or defective marketing claim. Product defect cases may center on whether warnings and instructions were sufficient to prevent the consumer injury.

Compensation Recovered in Product Liability Cases

Victims who suffer injury from dangerous or defective products may be entitled to recover damages from those who caused their injuries.

Economic Damages are awarded to cover monetary losses. This includes past, present, and future monetary losses. Examples include medical bills, property damage, lost wages (both past and future), treatments and the cost for household services, and other out-of-pocket medical and related expenses.

Non-Economic or General Damages are for pain and suffering and emotional trauma from product liability.

Punitive Damages are to punish those involved in the product defect and are awarded to deter future wrongdoing and serious injury to other victims.

If You Have Been Injured by Defective Products

Get Medical Care

You need to make sure everyone is safe. Medical help should be sought as soon as possible. This is true even if the injury is minor. Get medical treatment. This will allow the doctor to create an official record of the injuries. This type of evidence will be essential in your personal injury litigation case.

If There’s a Recall

You may not be thinking of this, but you should search to see if there is a recall on the defective product that caused your injuries. The internet can help here. The product website may have this information and it may even explain how to return the recalled product, to get a refund, or to get a new non-defective product.

You need a personal injury attorney to help with serious product defect cases.

Defective Product Attorneys

Hiring an attorney who handles product liability cases is the first step to securing the compensation a product defect victim deserves.

This needs to be done sooner rather than later. Delays can have a negative impact on the outcome of your case. And the statute of limitations for filing a product liability claim has to be considered. It can be as short as two years from the date of your injury.