Every one of us uses different types of products daily. Unfortunately, people are sometimes injured by defective or dangerous items. Most of the time, the injuries they receive are mild, but not everyone is that lucky. There are circumstances when a poorly designed product or a manufacturing defect can cause severe injuries. Injured parties have the right to seek damages by filing a personal injury lawsuit.
If you’ve been injured by a product you’ve used properly, contact Freidin Brown PA. During a free consultation, one of their highly experienced and compassionate attorneys will guide you through seeking justice and compensation. Don’t suffer in silence. You may be entitled to more than you think.
Defective Products And Your Rights As A Consumer
Those whom a defective product has harmed – think everything from an earplug to a toaster or a car – have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit to seek recovery from the damages they’ve sustained.
Manufacturers are bound by product liability laws to ensure that dangerous products don’t harm consumers. While the circumstances of each personal injury lawsuit will have unique nuances, those harmed by a product will have occurred in one of three ways.
- Design defects – Defects in design occur when the product fails in some way and can cause harm to its users. An example of a design defect could be a household appliance or tool that can melt or pose a fire hazard that gets too hot.
- Manufacturing defects – A manufacturing defect occurs during the production of the product and could be limited to a certain amount of units. This could happen if a manufacturer reduces staff and begins cutting corners during manufacturing.
- Defects in warning labels – Product manufacturers must warn users of the product’s hidden dangers. Failure to provide adequate warning labels of the product’s risk can harm its consumers.
Defective Products And Strict Liability Laws
Fortunately, defective product victims aren’t bound by the same rules that apply in other types of personal injury lawsuits. Typically, a plaintiff will be burdened to prove they were injured due to a person or entity’s negligence or intentional wrongdoing. This doesn’t apply to personal injury lawsuits for damages sustained from a defective product. To win a successful defective product lawsuit, the victim will only need to prove the following:
- The product was unsafe at the time of purchase
- The product was used for its intended purpose
- The product caused the plaintiff harm
- As a result of the injury, the plaintiff suffered damages
While there’s no need to prove negligence or intentional wrongdoing, defective product lawsuits have many challenges to overcome. With the help of a personal injury lawyer, the first hurdle is to determine who is at fault. This is usually narrowed down to three possible culprits:
- The manufacturer
- The distributor
- The retailer
Types Of Compensation You Can Seek For A Defective Product Lawsuit
You can only file a personal injury lawsuit if you’ve received severe injuries from a defective product. Your personal injury lawyer will examine your case and determine what damages you can seek to recover. Damages can be economic and non-economic. Common examples of economic damages can include:
- All medical bills related to your injury
- Transportation costs to and from medical appointments
- Past, present, and future lost wages and benefits
- Any cost related to household chores you can no longer perform, such as housekeeping and lawn care
- Construction costs to add mobility aids to your home, if necessary
Non-economic damages are those that aren’t easily quantifiable but are nonetheless valid. Examples of non-economic damages include:
- Pain and suffering
- Mental anguish
- Scarring and disfigurement
- PTSD
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
Working with a personal injury lawyer will ensure all your damages are compensated. Attempting to seek compensation without legal guidance will most likely result in your claims being denied or receiving a fraction of what you’re entitled to.
Dangerous By Design: Seeking Justice After An Injury Caused By A Defective Product Explained
No one expects to sustain a serious injury from a product when used for its intended purpose. Unfortunately, defects in design or manufacturing can cause users great harm. Victims of a poorly designed product or those with a manufacturing defect can find justice and seek accountability by filing a personal injury lawsuit.
