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Defective Product Liability Law

DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS LIABILITY LAW - MANUFACTURERS HAVE A DUTY TO THE PUBLIC TO ENSURE SAFETY

Regarding Defective Products

Products liability is an area of tort law where the manufacturers, designers, distributors, suppliers, and retailers are all held accountable for the injuries, damages, or deaths that their products cause. Any person or entity in the chain of supply of a product from its initial design, all the way to its sale, are responsible for any harm it may cause as the result of a defect. The user of a product doesn’t even have to be the person who purchased it; it could be a gift, borrowed, or the person injured could be an innocent bystander. If you or a family member was injured by a product, you may be entitled to compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Many products we use on a daily basis have the potential to be defective and cause serious personal injury to the people who use them. There are numerous dangerous products and defective products on the market and new products are being added to recall lists every day. Sacramento consumers purchase and use an enormous amount of products each year. Defective or faulty products have the ability to cause personal injury, property damage, and even the death

While there are thousands of safe and reliable products used each day, there are also thousands of people hurt or killed by defective products in the United States every year. Over 22,000 deaths and 29 million injuries are reported by the Consumer Product Safety Commission annually.

Under product liability law, companies are held responsible for dangerous or defective products. If one of their products causes harm to its user, they must pay compensation for medical bills, pain and suffering, lost wages and other expenses. In many cases, major manufacturers will refuse to provide compensation, fearing the possibility of a large scale recall or other lawsuits from people who suffered similar injuries. An experienced Sacramento product liability attorney is needed to make these companies do what is right. At the Crow Law Offices, a law firm serving Sacramento and the surrounding areas, our products liability lawyers have extensive experience in representing people injured by dangerous or defective products.

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Typical Product Liability Claims

  • Negligence
  • Strict Liability
  • Breach of Warrant
  • Consumer Protection Laws

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Common Damages in a Product Liability Case

Victims injured by dangerous products are entitled to seek money damages for medical expenses, future medical care, lost wages, loss of future earning capacity and pain and suffering. When you file a product liability claim, you are holding the manufacturer responsible whose failure to provide a safe product caused injury or death. If you believe that you were injured due to a defective product, or are the survivor of someone who died because of a dangerous product, it is important that you contact an experienced Sacramento product liability attorney at the Crow Law Offices. Every successful product liability claim serves to deter product manufacturers from cutting corners when it comes to the safety of their product.

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Types of Product Defects

  • Design defects are created when the product is designed and before it is manufactured. Design defects make the product inherently dangerous regardless of how carefully it is manufactured, sold, or labeled. Because of their poor design, these products had a problem before they were even built. Even if the product is used properly and works, a design flaw can make it dangerous. A design flaw will affect every product that is made, making this type of defect widespread.
  • Manufacture defects occur during the manufacturing of a product. This is usually as the result of using sub-par or shoddy materials, faulty equipment, or machine operator error. Not all versions of the product need to be defective; in general most of the product is manufactured correctly. Sometimes a product is designed well, but is built or manufactured incorrectly. In this case, only a few products may be defective or dangerous, while others are constructed properly.
  • Failure to warn defects occur when a product doesn’t have sufficient, has misprinted, or is missing warning labels. This is a failure to warn or marketing defect. These defects prevent the user from being properly informed of the potential hazards associated with using the product. Regardless of how well the product was designed or manufactured, if not labeled correctly it can cause serious personal injury or death. If consumers are not properly instructed on the use, maintenance requirements, or potential dangers of a product there could be a marketing defect. Manufacturers who fail to provide adequate warnings on how to use or assemble a product or if they fail to warn consumers about dangers associated with a certain product may face a product liability lawsuit.
  • California Strict Liability. In cases of strict liability, negligence on part of the defendant doesn’t need to be established. The mere fact that a defective product caused harm, injured, or killed the end user or bystander is enough for a claim.

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Proving a Product Liability Case

There are things to take into consideration when filing a claim for products liability: The product needs to be used as sold without modification and unaltered. Also the product needs to be the causation of your injury.

When pursuing a case of products liability in Sacramento, it is important to keep the defective product that caused the harm, injury, or death. It should be kept in a safe place in its original condition so that it may be examined later on. Take information down from witnesses that may have observed the defective product; their testimony later on could prove to be vital.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of a defective product, contact one of our experienced Sacramento products liability attorneys today.

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Some Common Defective Products

  • Combustible appliances
  • Unsafe children’s toys
  • Toxic cleaning products
  • Defective smoke detectors
  • Poorly manufactured furniture
  • In your car, almost any automobile part has the potential to cause harm, or cause an automobile accident, motorcycle accident, or truck accident
  • Defective products also include thousands of potentially dangerous pharmaceutical drugs and over the counter medications
  • Medical devices, drugs and pharmaceuticals can cause unexpected adverse effects or death
  • Food can be recalled after being tainted or improperly handled, leading to consumer health problems or even death
  • Hospital beds or beds in nursing homes or long-term care facilities can have dangerous bed rails that cause entrapments
  • Household products like clothing, kitchen appliances, power tools, lawn mowers and accessories can malfunction or harm children, adults or bystanders

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