When you use any type of product, you expect that it will be safe for its intended use or, if there are risks of injury, that the company that manufactured the product would properly warn you of those risks so that you can use caution. Unfortunately, many potentially unsafe products make it onto the market, as the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is regularly posting product recalls due to defects and other concerns.
If you or someone in your family suffered injuries from a defective or dangerous product, you might intuitively feel that you deserve financial recovery and other justice. However, can you file a defective product lawsuit? Where do you start?
The best way to know whether you have a valid case is to have a California product liability attorney review your situation and advise you of your options. These cases are highly technical, and many people might believe they have the right to sue when they might not, or vice versa. Below are some basic criteria that indicate you could sue for a defective product.
A company designed, manufactured, sold, or otherwise distributed a product that was defective.
The company that you sue must have had some role in creating the product or getting it into the hands of consumers. California law holds companies strictly liable for injuries caused by any of the following:
- Defective design of a product, which often means that all products in the line that stems from that design will be similarly defective
- Defective manufacture, which can include improper assembly, using insufficient materials, or similar errors in the manufacturing process for one or more batches of products in a line
- Failure to warn consumers of injury risks the company knew or should have known about
An attorney can advise you whether one of the following might apply in your case, which means you can sue the company for strict liability in California.
The product was defective when it was transferred from the company’s possession to the consumer’s.
It is important to note that the product may not be altered or changed in a way that resulted in the defect once it left the company’s hands – otherwise, that company is no longer liable. For example:
- A company manufacturers a product, and the seller alters the product (then, the seller could be liable, but not the manufacturer)
- A company sells you the product, and then you alter it to cause the defect (neither the manufacturer nor seller would be liable)
You used the product as intended or in a manner that was reasonably foreseeable, and you suffered harm from using the defective product.
It is important to note that you do not have to be the purchaser of the product to have a claim. If your neighbor purchased a product, which you then used in the intended or reasonably foreseeable manner, you can still have a claim against the manufacturer or other liable company because you are the one who suffered injuries.
Proving that your use of the product was “reasonably foreseeable” can be a complicated matter, and the right product liability lawyer can help with this process.
