How to File a Product Liability Lawsuit

Unfortunately, defective products happen and are likely to cause harm and danger. If you’re a victim, it’s important to understand how to file a product liability lawsuit.

Read all the details.

Introduction

Have you been injured by a defective product? Has your child? Many manufactures and companies release new products every day into the market. While they often go through testing before they do, they cannot account for every situation. Defective products or those of poor quality may malfunction or lead to injury.

The manufacturers need to be held responsible.

Thanks to the many laws in place to provide opportunities for consumers to come forward with these issues, product liability lawsuits are rather common.

What is Product Liability

Product liability is when a manufacturer is held liable for the products created. If they are defective, damaging, poorly designed, or harmful to consumers, manufacturers should be held responsible because they are liable for the danger.

A product liability lawsuit is one in which a consumer may have been injured due to a dangerous or defective product and has decided to sue the manufacturer. This not only holds the manufacturer of the product accountable for their poor decisions, but it also offers some relief to the victim and protects countless others from danger.

Most Common Types of Product Liability Cases

Product liability cases can stem from all sorts of products. However, there are a few types that always seem to see the highest rate of cases. These include:

Automobiles. It is announced quite regularly on the evening news about accidents or issues with automobiles due to defects. This is often followed by the recall of a huge number of autos. And it all likely started due to a product liability case. Faulty wiring, tire blowouts, seatbelt or airbag failure, etc. are a few examples.

Children’s toys or furniture. Small children put everything in their mouths — and for those toys with small pieces, warnings must be present. Furniture with parts that could cause a child to become stuck or injured is also required to have warnings.

Medical devices. These are created to help save people in hospital settings, for example. However, due to poor quality or defective parts, they may do more harm than good.

Food that is contaminated. Like automobiles, we often hear of food that has been contaminated and has made numerous people ill. Whether it was handled improperly or something found its way into the packaging, consumers can end up sick. Food has to follow safety guidelines. When they don’t, they must be held liable.

Athletic or fitness equipment. Most recently, Peloton’s treadmills have been under fire for causing injury. Active people expect equipment that is durable and safe. These items are also required to meet certain safety standards before being sold.

Filing Your Product Liability Claim

Even if there was no negligence, California says that those who design, manufacture, and sell products to consumers hold strict liability if something goes wrong. That means the courts don’t look for fault. Instead, it would be up to you to prove that the injury was caused by the defective product.

When you file your product liability lawsuit, you will want to name the parties involved in the creation of the item, including the designer, the manufacturer, as well as the seller. But, you may also want to include the product part manufacturer, contractor, distributor, or any other third party.

There are 3 types of product liability claims in California: design defect, manufacturing defect, and inadequate warnings. Let’s take a look at each one so that you may determine which your liability claim will be based on and have a better idea of who the defendants should be.

1. A design defect refers to a product that was designed unsafely. The manufacturers may have manufactured it to meet the exact design specification, but it remains defective even when used as instructed. For example, let’s say you purchase an air fryer. You used it by following the instructions, but when you go to remove the tray, the handle burns you. 
2. A manufacturing defect may have been designed to work beautifully, but somewhere during the manufacturing process things got mixed up and the product was manufactured incorrectly. An example of this is when a new electronic on the market sparks a fire due to the incorrect use of wires and circuitry.
3. Inadequate warnings (or failure to warn) occur when a product is designed and manufactured properly, but injury occurs because there was not sufficient warning about potential dangers. This could be a toy that contains small parts without warning the parent that it could potentially be a choking hazard.

It is important to note that the statute of limitations for filing a product liability claim in California is 2 years from the date of injury.

How to Win a Product Liability Lawsuit

After you have filed your product liability lawsuit, you need to be prepared to win your case. If you have been injured in some way by a product, there is a good chance that others out there have, as well. Don’t let big brand names or corporations scare you away from giving this case everything you have. But know this: those large companies have a team of experienced lawyers on their side.

You need to hire a lawyer. Without one, it is going to be difficult to even get your voice heard. Tactics and low-ball settlement offers are terrible games that these companies may play to minimize the issue with their product.

Hiring an experienced product liability lawyer means having someone on your side that knows how to handle the legal teams of these big corporations. Your attorney is going to be crucial to the success of your lawsuit.

Final Thoughts

Have you found yourself the victim of a defective product? If so, then you may consider filing a product liability lawsuit. You need to get compensation for your injury, but also for others to be warned of the dangers.

These personal injury cases should never be filed without the help of an experienced attorney. File your case, prove your injury happened due to a defective product, and hold those corporations liable.