Personal Injury

DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS

A lot of people have heard of exploding soda bottles. While most product defects do not make their appearance quite so dramatically, defective or dangerous consumer products are the cause of many thousands of injuries every year.

Products liability, the legal rules concerning who is responsible for defective or dangerous products, is slightly different from ordinary injury liability law and this set of rules sometimes makes it easier for an injured person to recover damages. Ordinarily, in order to hold another person liable for injuries you sustain, you must show that the other person was careless, that is negligent, and that that person's negligence caused your injuries. However, with respect to products sold to the general public, it is not necessary to show negligence nor to prove causation. Instead, the law provides the concept of strict liability. Strict liability allows an injured consumer to recover without having to prove that the manufacturer was careless or negligent in making a particular product. The injured consumer also does not have to prove whether it was the maker or the seller who was a fault or whether the seller or manufacturer lacked a system for checking each product. Rather, strict liability allows a consumer to recover for an injury due to a product defect without the consumer having to be responsible for checking each product before using it to see if the product is dangerous. However, there are exceptions to checking a product such as with obviously dangerous products such as a chain saw or a drain cleaner with a warning on it, for example. If you feel you have been injured by a defective product, you should seek the assistance of an attorney familiar with products liability law. A competent attorney can investigate your case and provide you with the assistance you need to protect your claim for damages.

If you would like to talk with an experienced and caring attorney about an injury due to a defective product, please give us a call.

back to practice areas >>