Product liability is basically being injured by a product that you purchased, essentially a defective product. And those can come in lots of different ways. But the three main ways are a defective design of the product, a defective manufacturer of the product, or a defective marketing of the product. In a design defect case, the product as it was designed is dangerous and injured somebody for them using it in its intended way. An example of a design defect might be a baby toy that has very small parts on it, that is a choking hazard. And that product could have been made safer, but it wasn’t. The product, if it’s used for as intended purpose, is dangerous.
In a case like that, if the product, the baby toy, could have been made with bigger parts that weren’t choking hazards, then you’d probably have a design defect case for that particular type of case. Also with the design defect case, you must prove that the safer alternative wouldn’t have changed the product in a way that defeats the purpose of the product. And the last element is you must prove that you were actually injured from the defect.
Manufacturing Defects
The next claim, or cause of action that you can bring in a product liability case is a manufacturing defect. This isn’t so much the design of the product, but how it was assembled or manufactured. And when we see those, it can be a single product that was a human error in manufacturing, or it could be a whole batch of products because the whole manufacturing process caused the defective product. You must prove that the product would’ve been safe, if it was manufactured, according to specifications. And third, you must prove that the manufacturing defect actually caused your injury. An example of this would be a chair or a piece of furniture that didn’t have the appropriate screws or bolts in it that would hold the weight of somebody sitting down in it. For example, if somebody sat down in a chair and there weren’t strong enough screws and the chair collapsed and the person was injured, it’s probably a manufacturing defect case.
Defective Marketing Failure to Warn
A lot of those cases are when somebody puts a product on the market, maybe it’s a drug, and they know that it causes certain types of injuries. But they don’t tell anybody about it. And the manufacturer knew about it. They would be liable for the failure to warn marketing defect of a product liability claim. You must prove that the manufacturer knew or should have known of the danger, that the danger caused a substantial risk to the consumer, the consumer would not find that defect on their own. And then that defect caused them actual injuries. You would also have to prove that there were no adequate warnings of those defects.
Who can bring a product liability case?
Generally, it’s the person that was injured. If the product was so defective that it ended up killing somebody, then the case would turn into a wrongful death case against the product manufacturer. But generally who can bring it is the person that was injured by the product. That’s the number one thing in a product liability case, you must prove that you’re harmed.
Product cases can be very complicated. You often must hire engineers, experts regarding manufacturing to prove your case. And oftentimes, in a manufacturing case or a product case, you’re going up against very, very big corporations. It could be an auto manufacturer; it could be Amazon. It could be companies that aren’t willingly going to settle the case until they’re forced to settle the case. So, you need an attorney that is going to fight. Hire the right product liability experts, prove your case so that you have good facts and a good case to win a settlement or win at trial.
Contact our trusted OC product liability attorneys today.
