Sometimes, dangerous or defective products make their way into stores or are sold online, where unsuspecting consumers buy and use them. When a defective product causes an injury, the person who was hurt may be able to bring a product liability claim against the manufacturer or another responsible company and seek compensation for their injuries.

Product liability laws seek to protect consumers from unsafe products, hold manufacturers and other parties in a product’s chain of distribution accountable, compensate people who have been injured by dangerous products, and encourage the safer design and manufacturing of consumer products.

What Is a Product Liability Claim?

A product liability claim or lawsuit seeks to compensate an injured person for harm caused by the manufacturing, construction, fabrication, production, design, or marketing of a product.

If a product has a defect that makes it unreasonably dangerous and that defect causes an injury, a defective product lawsuit may place liability on parties such as manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and sellers.

Product liability cases can involve many different types of products, including defective vehicles or auto parts, medical devices, household products, appliances, children’s products, tools, machinery, electronics, and other consumer products.

The defects for which an injured person may bring a claim generally include:

• Design defect: The design of the product itself is unreasonably dangerous and there was a safer alternative design.
• Manufacturing defect: A mistake during the manufacturing or production of the product caused it to deviate from its intended design and made the product unsafe.
• Marketing defect or failure to warn: The product lacks adequate warning labels, safety information, or sufficient instructions for its safe use.
• Breach of warranty: The product fails to live up to warranties regarding its quality, safety, or fitness for use given by the manufacturer or seller.

In a product liability lawsuit, the injured person generally must establish that the alleged defect caused the injury.

What Is the Difference Between Strict Liability and Negligence in a Product Liability Case?

Many defective product claims involve the legal principle of strict liability. Strict liability can allow a person injured by a defective product to pursue a claim without having to prove that the defendant knew its product was defective.

Depending on the type of claim and applicable law, product liability cases may also involve allegations of negligence. A negligence claim may focus on whether a manufacturer or other responsible party failed to exercise reasonable care in the product’s design, manufacturing, testing, inspection, or warnings.

Because the laws governing dangerous and defective products can vary depending on the circumstances and jurisdiction, determining the appropriate claims and responsible parties requires an evaluation of the specific facts surrounding the product and injury.

What Compensation Can You Recover in a Product Liability Lawsuit?

A person injured by a dangerous or defective product may be able to seek compensation for the losses caused by the injury. Depending on the circumstances, damages in a product liability claim may include compensatory damages and, in some cases, punitive or exemplary damages.

Compensatory damages seek to compensate an injured person for losses suffered because of the defective product and resulting injury. These damages are generally divided into economic and non-economic damages:

• Economic damages: Financial losses resulting from the injury, which may include medical expenses, property damage, lost wages, loss of income, and diminished or lost earning capacity.
• Non-economic damages: Other losses resulting from the injury, which may include pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of quality or enjoyment of life, and loss of support or companionship.

Punitive or exemplary damages are different. Rather than compensating an injured person for a specific loss, these damages may be available in certain circumstances to punish particularly wrongful conduct and deter similar conduct in the future.

The value of a defective product injury claim will depend on the specific circumstances, including the severity of the injuries, the resulting financial losses, and the conduct of the responsible parties.

What Defenses Can a Company Raise in a Product Liability Claim?

When facing a product liability lawsuit, manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, and sellers may assert defenses in an attempt to avoid liability or reduce the injured person’s compensation.

Common defenses in defective product cases can include:

• Product misuse: The defendant alleges that the injured person used the product in an abnormal or unintended manner and that the misuse, rather than a defect, caused the injury.
• Assumption of risk: The defendant alleges that the injured person knew of a particular risk associated with the product but chose to use it despite that known risk.
• Unintended user: The defendant argues that the injured person was not an intended or reasonably foreseeable user of the product or used the product in a manner that was not foreseeable.
• Substantial change or modification: The defendant alleges that the injury resulted from a modification or alteration made to the product after it left the defendant’s control rather than from an inherent defect in the product.

These defenses make preserving evidence particularly important after an injury involving a defective or unsafe product.

What Should You Do if You Are Injured by a Defective Product?

If you believe a dangerous or defective product caused your injury, preserving the product and evidence surrounding the incident may be extremely important to your potential claim.

If possible, you should keep the product and do not throw it away, repair it, alter it, or return it to the manufacturer or store. You should also preserve the product’s packaging, instructions, warnings, receipts, model and serial numbers, and any other documentation related to the purchase.

Take photographs or videos of the product, the location where the incident occurred, and any visible injuries or property damage. You should also keep copies of your medical records and expenses related to the injury.

If the product has been subject to a safety recall, preserve any recall notices or communications you receive. However, a product does not necessarily have to be recalled for a person to have a potential product liability claim.

Do You Need a Lawyer for a Defective Product Injury?

Product liability cases frequently involve highly technical issues and complicated legal questions. Manufacturers and large companies may aggressively defend themselves against claims that their products caused an injury.

An experienced product liability attorney can investigate how the product was designed and manufactured, preserve important evidence, identify potentially responsible companies, work with engineering, product, medical, or safety experts when necessary, and determine what legal claims may be available.

An attorney can also identify potentially responsible parties throughout the product’s chain of distribution, which may include manufacturers, component manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and sellers.

Because important evidence can be lost or destroyed and legal deadlines may apply, it can be important to investigate a potential defective product injury claim as soon as possible.

Talk to a Texas Product Liability Attorney

If you or a family member was injured by a dangerous or defective product in Houston or anywhere in Texas, Mostyn Law can help you understand your legal options.

Our Texas product liability attorneys can investigate the product and circumstances surrounding your injury, identify potentially responsible parties, preserve important evidence, and help you pursue compensation for your medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other damages.

Whether your injury involved a defective vehicle or auto part, dangerous consumer product, defective medical device, unsafe household product, machinery, or another defective product, contact Mostyn Law for a free consultation about your product liability claim.