We use consumer products every day and depend on them to be reasonably safe for their expected uses. Sometimes, though, products do not conform to our expectations and how they were designed and intended, and when that happens, they can cause serious injuries. If that happened recently to you or a loved one, you can file a product liability claim against the product’s manufacturer, seller, and other parties in the distribution chain.
Injured people who file product liability lawsuits can receive substantial compensation for their injuries. These lawsuits may also force manufacturers to fix product defects to help prevent other people from getting hurt by the defects in the future.
3 Types of Product Liability Claims
There are three main types of product liability claims. Which type (or types) apply to your claim in a defective product lawsuit depends on the specific facts of your case.
1. Design Defects
Design defects are flaws in the product’s design that put a consumer at risk of harm. When a product is defectively designed, the problem exists even before the product is made, making it inherently dangerous. All products manufactured from that design will be defective. Because design defects put every user and consumer of a particular make and model of a product at risk, they often lead to Consumer Product Safety Commission actions, up to and including the issuance of a product recall.
2. Manufacturing Defects
Manufacturing defects result from an error in manufacturing that makes it so that the defective product does not conform to specifications or the manufacturer’s expectations – in other words, when something goes wrong while the product is being made. In this situation, only some items from the same design will be defective.
3. Warnings and Marketing Defects
Warnings and marketing defects exist when a company does not disclose or educate users about a product’s potential risks and hazards. These include failing to warn users of a product’s dangers or providing improper instructions on assembling, using, or storing it.
What is Strict Liability?
Under Maine law and many other states, product manufacturers and sellers are put to a strict liability standard when selling safe products. That means that the defendants (the people you are suing) can be found liable even if they didn’t intend or know about the defect. A product liability plaintiff does not have to prove negligence and can hold manufacturers and sellers responsible for the harm caused by unreasonably dangerous products even if they used “all possible care.”
How to File a Product Liability Lawsuit
Product liability lawsuits often require advanced technical knowledge, and manufacturers and sellers are ready to spend a lot of time and money to defend against your case. Often, you will need more than one expert to prove the existence of a defect, the causation of your injury, and the extent of your damages. For these reasons, you should not attempt to file a product liability lawsuit alone but instead work with experienced product liability lawyers. Your lawyers will be able to find the right experts for your case.
At Garmey Law, we have decades of experience representing people seriously injured by defective products. We fight hard to get our clients the substantial compensation they deserve. For example, we negotiated a $3 million settlement for the family of a small child who was killed in a dangerous elevator. As part of the settlement agreement, protective guards were installed on more than 4,000 elevators to prevent that type of tragic accident from happening again.
Contact the Personal Injury Attorneys at Garmey Law
If you work with Garmey Law to file a defective product lawsuit, our lawyers, with our extensive network of technical experts, will gather the evidence needed to prove that the product you used was defective and that the defect caused your injuries. We’ll fight for a fair and substantial settlement or jury verdict. We are glad to take on tough cases.
To find out more about whether you should file a product liability claim, call us at (207) 481-4683 or contact us through our website for a free consultation.
