Defective Product Lawsuit: What Are My Options?

If you’ve suffered a defective product injury, you may be wondering how to proceed. If you are unsure of a product’s origin or know that it is manufactured by a massive international company, your ability to sue for damages may seem slim. However, no matter how big, small, or unidentifiable the maker of a defective product may be, you still have options.

Sweet Lawyers are an experienced personal injury law firm in the state of California that handles defective product injury claims for minor to catastrophic injuries. No matter the company, our team holds major companies liable for their negligence and recovered clients the maximum compensation for their defective product injuries.

If you are a victim, you have rights. Contact Sweet Lawyers today for a free consultation on how to best move forward with your defective product lawsuit today.

What Is A Defective Product?

A defective product is a product that does not work in the way the buyer was led to believe it would. There are three different types of product defects that can affect consumers:

1. Design Defect – These product defects are a result of a flaw of a product’s actual design. It was broken before it was even manufactured. 
2. Manufacturing Defect – Something went wrong when the product was made, despite perfect design. The flaw occurred during the manufacturing process. 
3. Marketing Defect – the company made false claims, or failed to adequately warn of potential hazards. This flaw can be due to inaccurate labeling, misinformation, missing instructions, or no clear warnings.

If you have suffered a defective product injury due to a design, manufacturing, or marketing defect, you may be entitled to compensation. However, are you unsure if the product that injured you falls into one of these three categories? Thankfully, a leading defective product lawyer can help.

How Likely Is It That My Product Is Defective?

According to estimates from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, emergency rooms treated 251,700 toy-related injuries in 2017 and 13 toy-related deaths. These numbers only encapsulate the dangers of the toy market. In addition, they do not account for the hundreds of thousands of other products currently for sale.

While many products are safe for consumer use, defective product injuries do happen. If you believe that you may be in danger, check the Consumer Product Safety Commission website for a comprehensive list of all past and current product recalls, as well as warnings of what kind of items to look out for.

Defective Product Injury Liability

Your options to seek compensation for your defective product injuries are separated into three categories of product liability claims:

Negligence

If the manufacturer was negligent or careless when they designed or created the product, they can be liable for defective product injuries. By not taking the necessary safety steps in the manufacturing or design process to ensure consumers’ protection from harm, a manufacturer is liable for your claim.

Breach Of Warranty

When an item is sold, there is an implied contract between the manufacturer of the product and the buyer. The implication is that the product will function as intended and be accurately described. Considered contract law, a break in warranty holds the manufacturer responsible for any and all defective product injuries.

Strict Liability

Strict liability means that if your defective product lawyer can prove that your injury is the result of a product being poorly designed, manufactured shoddily, or inadequate warning labels, then you have a better chance of compensation. By establishing that the defective product injury happened as a result of the product being defecting before it was sold, your lawyer does not have the burden of establishing direct fault in order to win your case.

What makes defective product lawsuits so complex is that more than one party can be held liable for injuries sustained during product use. As a victim, you may be owed compensation from multiple sources, including the manufacturer and the seller. In order to accurately determine who is at fault, you should enlist the help of a skilled product defective injury attorney.

I Didn’t Buy The Product, Do I Still Have Options?

Even if you did not purchase the defective product, you can still pursue a defective product lawsuit if your are injured when using the product as intended.

For example, recently thousands of batches of infant ibuprofen recalled. That is because the batches contained higher than labeled amounts of ibuprofen in the bottle. Ingesting more than the recommended dose of medicine left countless infants at risk. These risks included liver failure, a medical injury that could be fatal. If a mother used this medication for her child, she could sue the manufacturer. Regardless if the bottle was borrowed from a friends or purchased directly.

I Bought The Product But Didn’t Use It, Do I Still Have Options?

Sometimes you do not even have to use a defective product in order to be injured. With the help of a skilled defective product injury attorney, you can pursue a claim. Even if you did not purchase or use the product.

How is this possible? An example would be the faulty lithium batteries used in last holiday season’s most popular gift: the hoverboard. Likely to catch fire haphazardly, a bystander who is harmed in a defective hoverboard fire could sue the manufacturer.

A Defective Product Injured Me, What Should I Do?

If you suffered a defective product injury, contact leading defective product lawsuit attorneys at Sweet Lawyers today. As a victim, you are owed compensation for not only your medical bills, but for your pain and suffering. Our team will walk you through the process, every step of the way. We will focus on your lawsuit while you recover and heal.