We’re a consumer society, and not a day goes by when the average American doesn’t use a multitude of consumer products, from the basics we use every day—food and drink, cars, trucks, tires, toys, tools, furniture, and kitchen appliances—to the high-tech: electronics, computers, and other sophisticated equipment; to medical devices and pharmaceuticals designed to improve our health. We rarely give much thought to these accouterments of daily life, and we trust that they won’t cause us any harm.
Unfortunately, that is not always a correct assumption. Every day, in California and across the U.S., people are injured or killed because of defective products.
Three categories of product defects can be responsible for injury to a consumer:
- Defects in design
- Manufacturing defects
- Defects in labeling and instruction, i.e. “failure to warn” defects
If you’ve used a product to your physical or financial detriment because of any of these defects, you may be entitled to recover monetary compensation for your damages with the assistance of an experienced California product liability attorney.
WHO IS LIABLE?
Anyone along the design, production, and distribution chain can potentially be found liable for a defective product injury.
At Shepard & Haven, we begin by investigating the product from conception to design to production, marketing, distribution, and finally, sale to you, the consumer. A defective product lawsuit may be brought against a designer, manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, or retailer of either the final product or one of its defective components.
Any party participating in the marketing, packaging, labeling, or advertising of the product can potentially be found liable for your injury if the label, instructions, marketing materials, or package insert omits information and warnings to educate consumers on safe use of the product.
STRICT LIABILITY FOR DEFECTIVE PRODUCT INJURIES
Defective product injury claims are unlike other personal injury cases in the sense that you don’t have to prove negligence. Under the legal doctrine of “strict liability,” the defect speaks for itself. The California led the nation in establishing the strict liability doctrine and extending it to all parties involved in the manufacturing, distribution, and sale of defective products, including retailers, and also determined that these defendants are liable to customers, users, and to any innocent bystanders injured by the defective product.