What You Need to Know About Product Liability Claims
I’m Ed Smith, an Elk Grove personal injury lawyer. Injuries or deaths caused by product liability claims are divided into three categories. These are defective manufacturing, lack of appropriate instructions or warnings on how to use a product and design defects. When an individual is harmed, or a loved one is killed through the use of a defective product, or because warnings were missing, the individual or family can be compensated for that injury or death. Let’s look at how companies fail in their responsibility to consumers and what can be done to recover the damages.
Defective Manufacturing
Defective manufacturing happens when a product is made in a way that departs from the way the design was intended. Examples include:
- Contamination of a prescription drug at the manufacturing plant or filling the bottles with the wrong medicine
- A defective wheelchair that causes the individual to become injured
- Dressers that fall over injuring a child when the drawers are opened
- A television set that catches on fire due to faulty wiring, causing an injury
- An implanted medical device that sheds bits of metal into the body such as the DePuy Orthopedic Hip Replacement
Instructions and Warnings
Improper instructions and warning labels on products can lead to serious injuries or even death. Some of the examples include:
- Chemicals such as solvents that lack adequate warnings about the need for proper ventilation
- Medications that lack warnings on the dangers of taking them with certain other drugs
- Prepackaged foods that do not contain warnings about their production near products or inclusion of allergens that cause severe allergic reactions such as peanuts
- Hoverboards that contain inadequate warnings about the difficulty and experience needed to use them safely
Defective Designs
Defective designs happen before the manufacturing process and cause the product to be dangerous to users. In cases such as these, the consumer must have been injured while using the product in the way it was intended. Examples include:
- Items that are structurally unstable such as a piece of furniture that can fall
- Mechanical defects in motor vehicles that can cause an accident with resultant injuries
- A poorly designed chainsaw that has the chain come off while running the machine
- Toys that have small parts that come off easily and could be ingested by toddlers or babies
Elements of a Product Liability Claim in California
In California, any item sold within the state to the public is subject to product liability law. This includes machinery, food products, medical devices, weapons and consumer goods. The designers, manufacturers, producers, sellers, and distributors of the items may be held liable for injuries or deaths caused by a defect in the product. An experienced products liability lawyer can explain how laws work in California and help by filing a claim for financial reimbursement for the injuries or death that a defective product caused. The statute of limitations for filing a claim is two years such as it is in most other personal injury cases. If the claim is not filed within that period of time, it will probably not be heard.
Elk Grove Personal Injury Lawyer
I’m Ed Smith, an Elk Grove personal injury lawyer. Injuries and even deaths occur numerous times each year that are caused by defective products. If you or someone you love was injured or you lost your loved one because of a defect in a product, an experienced personal injury lawyer may be able to help. Please contact me at (916) 694-0002 around Elk Grove or at (800) 494-5400 outside the area. I can offer you my friendly advice free of charge.
I’ve worked as an injury lawyer in Elk Grove and Northern California for more than 36 years. In that time, I’ve represented many people who have suffered injuries caused by negligence such as traumatic brain injury and in cases of wrongful death.
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Lawyers who have a record of more than $1 million in a case settlement or trial verdict for a client can be nominated as members of the Million Dollar Forum. I am a California member of this group.
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