If you were injured by a defective product, you may be compensated for your injuries. The defect can be a manufacturing error, design defect or a failure to warn.
Products liability is where a product causes injury. Any company in the chain of manufacture of the product causing injury is responsible together or separately. This means there is plenty of money available.
This includes the companies that make component parts, assembling/processing companies, wholesalers, and finally, the retail store owner. Products include intangibles (gas, electricity etc…), naturals (animals), real estate (apartments, homes), and writings (maps).
Products liability claims can be based on negligence, strict liability, or breach of warranty of fitness. The three types of product liability actions are design defects, manufacturing defects and failure to warn. :
Design defects defect those that are inherent in the design of the product itself. This means that all the products manufactures were poorly designed. Think of the Pinto and the exploding gas tank. The car’s design was inherently dangerous as the gas tank was way too vulnerable.
Manufacturing defects are defects in a product that was not intended. This means that at some point during manufacturing, storage, processing, and shipping or otherwise, a product became defective somehow. For example, maybe rats contaminated cough medicine during storage, a car was made without brake pads. Unlike design defects, the entire line of product is not tainted, its just a particular product or a usually it is a batch of products that go bad somehow.
Failure to warn defects occur when there is a failure to provide adequate warnings on a product, and a consumer suffers an injury. Products that have dangers, both hidden and obvious, must come with legible and discreet safety labels. The labels must meet certain requirements to be effective. Examples include failure to warn a package may be extremely hot when microwaving, or that removing a saw blade guard can cause severe injury and death.
Products Liability is a strict liability offense. That means company is liable if the consumer proves the product is defective, regardless of the company's intent. It does not matter if the manufacturer or supplier used the most care imaginable to prevent harm. If there is a defect in the product that causes harm, they must pay, period.
If you were injured by a product, do not discard the product to give it to the company if they ask for it. This is the most critical piece of evidence for the case. Preserve the product with great care and take it to an attorney or expert right away for an evaluation.
