Products Liability – What You Need to Know

There are three common types of products liability cases:

• Manufacturing errors
• Lack of or inadequate warnings, and
• Design defects

A product is defectively designed if at the time it leaves the manufacturer’s hands it is in a condition not reasonably contemplated by the ultimate consumer, and it is unreasonably dangerous for its intended use.

There is a seven factor test to determine whether a product is defectively designed:

• The product’s utility to the public as a whole;
• Its utility to the individual user;
• The likelihood that the product will cause injury;
• The availability of a safer, alternative design;
• The possibility of designing and manufacturing the product so that it is safer but remains functioning and reasonably priced;
• The degree of awareness of the product’s potential danger that can be attributed to the injured user; and
• The manufacturer’s ability to spread the cost of any safety related design changes

There are many defenses to product liability claims such as:

• The Plaintiff was the sole proximate cause of the injury
• That the product was altered after it left the defendant’s possession
• That the Plaintiff did not read the warnings claimed to be defective
• That the Defendant had no duty to warn
• That an intermediary existed between the end user and the product supplier
• That the product was state of the art
• That the failure to incorporate safety equipment was not a defect
• That the risk of danger was obvious

Expert testimony is common in products liability cases. It can establish many things such as the fact that an injury could not have occurred the way a Plaintiff is claiming that it did. Also it could establish that a Plaintiff was misusing a product. If you have been injured by a product, consult with an experienced personal injury attorney.