Defective or dangerous products are the cause of thousands of injuries every year in the U.S.  At The Law Office of W. Kyle Green, our attorneys are well-versed in the laws that protect consumers against the harm posed by defective products. When a consumer sustains an injury due to a defective product, all sellers of the product who are in the distribution chain can be held liable for releasing a product that they knew or should have known posed a risk to users:  

• A manufacturer of component parts;
• A party that assembles or installs the product;
• The wholesaler; and
• The retail store that sold the product to the consumer.

A person or company can be held liable for products ranging from faulty medical devices to foods that cause food poisoning.  This applies only to the original suppliers; consumers who are selling the product second hand, say as in a garage sale, cannot be held liable.

In general terms, the law requires that a product meet the ordinary expectations of the consumer. No consumer reasonably expects a product to have a defect or danger. In these cases, a plaintiff in a product liability case must prove that the product that caused his injury was defective and that the defect made the product dangerous.  There are three types of defects that might cause a manufacturer or supplier to be liable.

• Design Defects – Present in a product from the beginning, even before it is manufactured, in that something in the design of the product is inherently unsafe.
• Manufacturing Defects – Those that occur during a product’s manufacture or assembly.
• Marketing Defects – Flaws in the way a product is marketed, such as improper labeling, insufficient instructions, or inadequate safety warnings.

 

Generally, there are three types of product liability cases.

• Negligence – The claimant must show that carelessness in the design or manufacture of the product led to his or her injuries, that the defendant knew or should have known that the product was defective, and that the defective product caused their injuries.
• Strict Liability – With these claims, the injured party is only required to prove that a defect in a product exists and caused injury even if the manufacturer exercised care and caution when manufacturing the product.  For strict liability to apply, the product must have been purchased in the chain of distribution. Products purchased second-hand are not eligible for strict liability claims.
• Breach of Warranty – When a good is sold, there are two warranties the buyer relies on: the express warranty and the implied warranty.  The express warranty is any representation about the product and its safety made by the manufacturer or retailer. An implied warranty is an implied promise that the product, if used as intended, will not cause any harm.

If you or someone you know has been injured by a defective product, you may be entitled to compensation. The attorneys at our law firm have a successful history of litigating product liability cases and recovering compensation for their clients. To see if our lawyers can help you, please call our Ruston office to make an appointment.

Address: 308 N Vienna St., Ruston, LA

Office: 318-513-9001

Email: kyle.green@wkglawfirm.com