Product Liability Lawsuits
Products liability law, which differs from state to state, governs the liability of any parties involved in the manufacture and sale of a product for injuries and damage caused by that product.
Each state’s law of products liability determines who is liable for the injuries or property damage caused by a defective product, such as the product designer, a manufacturer who makes or assembles the entire product or manufacturer of just an individual part, wholesaler and retailer.
While many states have adopted the United States Department of Commerce’s Model Uniform Products Liability Act (MUPLA), there is no federal product liability law. The law of products liability lies mainly in the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) and through judicial decisions in other product liability cases, called common law, and not through law enacted by a legislative body.
In all product liability cases, the products liability lawyers representing the injured person must prove that it is a defective product due to a design defect, manufacturing defect or marketing defect. Design defects are inherent design flaws that cause the product to be unreasonably dangerous even when the consumer uses the product as intended. Manufacturing defects are defects that occur during the product’s manufacturing or production process, which make the products more dangerous to use than expected. Marketing defects involve improper of insufficient instruction of safe product use and lack of or inadequate safety labels or warnings that fail to notify the consumer of latent dangers of the product.
Because product liability law varies by state, including whether the basis of the product liability is strict liability, negligence or breach of warranty, anyone who suffers injury, wrongful death of a loved one, or property damage from a defective product should consult the experienced products liability lawyers of personal injury law firm Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik LLP.
The most common basis of product liability cases is strict liability. Strict liability is a legal principal that only requires products liability lawyers representing the injured person to prove it is a defective product. If the product caused injury, the designer, manufacturer and/or supplier is liable for it regardless if they took great care or engaged in misconduct.
Products liability lawyers representing the injured person can also file a case of products liability on a basis of negligence. In this type of products liability claim, not only must products liability lawyers prove it is a defective product, but also that the product’s manufacturers or other parties failed in their duty to the customer by not taking reasonable care in the design, manufacture or inspection process to prevent the injury of the consumer during foreseeable use of the product.
Breach of warranty can also be the basis of a products liability claim. In a breach of warranty theory, products liability lawyers are required to prove one of three types of breach of warranty. The first is breach of the manufacturer or seller’s express warranty, which is a specific promise or guarantee made in writing, verbally or otherwise from the manufacturer or seller to the consumer about the specifications or condition of the product. The second is breach of implied warranty of merchantability, meaning the unwritten or unspoken guarantee from the manufacturer that a product conforms to ordinary standards of care and is fit for the ordinary purposes for which it is sold. Third is breach of the implied warranty of fitness. This means that if the manufacturer or seller knew of the consumer’s non-ordinary purpose for the product and implied a fitness of the product for that non-ordinary purpose when there was not, knowing the consumer was relying on the manufacturers or seller’s knowledge, it would be a breach of implied warranty of fitness.
While most products liability deals with tangible products such as automobiles, products liability lawyers representing an injured person or party can also file product liability cases for defective navigational charts, residential or commercial real estate, computer software and gases such as propane.
In addition, the lawyers of Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik LLP handle injuries or wrongful death caused by a defective product on the job, such as mesothelioma from asbestos products or lung diseases from butter flavoring vapors at microwave popcorn manufacturers.
Just a few examples of defective products involved in prominent products liability cases in the news include Firestone Tires, Drop Side Cribs, Fen-Phen Diet Pills, Vioxx Arthritis Medication, Yaz and Yazmin Birth Control Pills, DePuy and Zimmer Joint Implants, Guidant Defibrillators, Ford Pinto, Ford Vehicles with Fire Hazard Ignitions, Jeep Vehicles with Defective Roll Bars, Toyota Vehicles with Sudden Acceleration, Asbestos Products and Tobacco Products.
A defective product may cause serious injury, wrongful death and property damage. If you suffer injuries, wrongful death of a loved one or property damage as the result of a defective product, you need the experienced products liability lawyers of the personal injury law firm Napoli Bern Ripka Shkolnik LLP. Call today for a free consultation and find out if you have a case.
