What You Need to Know about Defective Product Liability


Product liability is the liability of all parties responsible for the manufacture of products that causes harm. This includes the manufacturer, the assembling manufacturer, wholesaler and retail owner of the product. Getting injured due to the negligence or recklessness of somebody else can be a challenging experience that can take a toll on your life. In such instances holding the individual or business responsible for the injury is one of the methods of ensuring that justice is done. The process of seeking personal injury settlements can be quite complicated hence it is important to get the best legal and investigative team to champion your interests.

Product liability lawsuits are usually based on breach of warranty, negligence or strict liability depending on the jurisdiction within which the claim is based. Most states and countries have enacted comprehensive products liability statutes to protect the rights of the consumer against defective products. Consumers who are injured by a product require a good product defect lawyer to begin legal proceedings against the concerned parties. In order to satisfy the threshold for a product liability suit you need the following:

Proof that the product is defective 
This usually fall under three categories namely; manufacturing defects, design defects and defects in marketing. Design defects are often inherent problems since they exist long before the product is made. Manufacturing defects happen during the production or construction of the item. On the other hand marketing defects are concerned with failure to warn consumers of latent dangers and improper instructions about the product.

Liability
This is a key factor in personal injury law since it proves that the individual or parties who caused the harm did so due to failure to exercise reasonable care. Your lawyer must also be able to demonstrate that it was foreseeable for this failure to result in harm or injury that did occur to the aggrieved party. A finding of negligence or reckless action is likely to result in judgment of liability. Defenses to liability claims include preexisting conditions and intervening causes.

Clear understanding about the types of damages available in defective product lawsuit 
Defective product lawsuits are based on strict liability claim or negligence theory. Damages available in such lawsuits are usually compensatory in nature. These damages are meant to compensate the injured party for the losses linked to the defective product. Most of the time punitive damages are not available in these liability claims. In order to get punitive damages there must be proof that the defendant acted willfully or with intent to harm the plaintiff which is often not the case in defective products claims. Hiring a lawyer who clearly understands this distinction will ensure that your case will not be dismissed during legal proceedings.

Lawsuit or out of-court settlement 
It is important to note that not all personal injury cases proceed to fully fledged lawsuit stage, actually most of them never go to court. Such parties prefer out-of-court settlements in order to resolve the cases quietly and quickly. When settlements cannot be agreed upon the parties usually proceed to court.

A single defective product case can generate a number of damages such as economic and non-economic losses.

Economic losses 
This includes medical costs such as doctor, medicine, pharmaceutical and hospital bills. The defendant may be required to reimburse costs that resulted from the disabling injury such as loss of mobility. If the injury caused the plaintiff loss of wages or profits the defendant has to shoulder these expenses. Defective products are also known to cause damage to property; therefore if such products caused destruction to property compensatory damages will be awarded.

Non-economic losses 
These are often referred to as non-monetary losses or general damages, they are awarded less frequently since it is quite difficult to quantify their amounts. Non -economic losses include loss of consortium where the injured person experienced negative side-effects on relationship with partner or spouse as result of the injuries.

People who experience personal injury as result of defective products are advised to look around for the best legal brains before settling on a specific attorney. Such people can benefit from looking up such assistance from the Legal Match personal injury damages platform in order to ensure they get the best when it comes to recovering damages due to personal injury.

JL Santiago Aquino

A millennial lifestyle blogger from Caloocan City who adores trying new things. ✨ Email: blog.ph7@gmail.com. Follow @JayL_Aquino on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok & Facebook.

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