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Defective Products – A Qualified Product Liability Attorney can Help

If you or someone you know was harmed while using a certain product, the manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler, or distributor may be liable for the injury. This legal obligation is known as product liability. It usually applies when a consumer is using a product in the manner intended and is injured in the process. There are four legal grounds a product liability attorney may use to establish liability in lawsuits involving dangerous or defective products:

Establishing Liability in Defective Product Cases

Negligence

Any party that does not exercise reasonable care (when it has the legal responsibility to do so) may be found guilty of negligence. This can range from malicious actions to carelessness to failure to take preventative action.

Breach of Warranty

When a seller fails to maintain any promise about a given product, a breach of warranty has occurred. Companies are expected to uphold assertions and fulfill obligations to consumers.

Misrepresentation

This refers to false or misleading advertising that may downplay the risks that certain products pose to consumers. A manufacturer who misrepresents a product can be held liable for damages in a product liability lawsuit.

Strict Liability

When a victim can demonstrate that a product was defective, the deficiency caused his or her injury, and the product was excessively hazardous, then the responsible party can be held liable in a product liability lawsuit, regardless of fault or intent.

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Establishing Defectiveness in Product Liability Lawsuits

Consumers have a right to expect that the products they purchase will be safe for them to use. Unfortunately, defective products harm millions of Americans every year. Examples of such items include tools, automobile parts, electric devices, medical devices, defective drugs, and foodstuffs. A “defective product” does not have to be physically flawed to fall under product liability law. There are several reasons a product liability attorney can offer to establish defectiveness:

Defective Design

Design defects occur before the actual product is created. An engineering flaw may not be discovered until after product release, and the manufacturer may need to issue a recall. However, consumers may not learn about a product recall in time to avoid injury. An example of defective design might be an automobile with a poorly positioned gas tank, making explosions more likely during car accidents.

Defective Manufacturing

Flaws inevitably occur during the manufacturing process. However, manufacturers can still be sued when such defects end up injuring consumers. Additional damages may be assessed if it can be shown that a manufacturer exceeded predetermined defect tolerance levels. An example of defective manufacturing is when a knife is produced with a hairline crack, then breaks while being used normally.

Defective Testing

Products need to be rigorously tested to ensure that they will not injure consumers. In some cases, such tests are poorly constructed, and the results do not accurately reflect the safety of the product in question. Testers may also be under pressure to pass products quickly so that production can begin. An example of defective testing would be a drug that was approved for consumer use based on flawed clinical trials.

Defective Marketing

A product may also be considered defective if it can be shown that it was marketed inappropriately. This often refers to the product packaging, including instructions and warnings. If a consumer is injured because instructions are unclear or a necessary warning is missing, he or she should consider hiring an attorney to bring a product liability lawsuit against the marketer of the product. An example of defective marketing might be a warning label for an over-the-counter medicine that does not mention harmful drug interactions.

If you think you may have a product liability case, contact a qualified attorney today.

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