If you’re a bit intimidated about filing a product liability lawsuit, it’s no wonder. Many of the people who file these claims are going up against very large companies, any of which is going to have a lot of money to put up for their legal defense. In fact, many product liability lawsuits are actually filed against medical equipment manufacturing companies, and that certainly means that they have enough money to defend themselves.
Product liability lawsuits, however, are important parts of the civil court system. For some people, they provide the only means by which a manufacturer can be held responsible for manufacturing an unsafe product. According to the Legal Dictionary at TheFreeDictionary.com, there are different theories of liability that may help you understand how a manufacturer can be held accountable.
Liability
Manufactures can be held liable for damages caused to the claimant in one of four different ways or in more than one of these four different ways.
Manufactures can be held responsible for a breach of warranty, for misrepresenting their product, under strict tort liability or due to some sort of negligence on their part. Negligence simply means the manufacturer was not careful manufacturing the product, designing the product or marketing the product.
Misrepresentation is a significant contributor to the number of lawsuits filed over product liability every year. This is particularly true where lawsuits against the pharmaceutical industry and medical device manufacturers are concerned. Misrepresentation, in such cases, oftentimes involves the amount of risk that accompanies using a manufacturer’s product and whether or not the manufacturer represented how much risk was involved accurately.
Under strict tort liability, the claimant has to prove that a flaw in the device or product caused them to be injured. These types of injuries can include people who were not the purchasers or direct users of the device. For example, if a candle exploded and burned people nearby, all of the people, not just the person who purchased it, might be able to sue the manufacturer for putting a defective product on the market.
For many people who are injured by faulty products, product liability lawsuits are the only way that they have to get compensated for their injuries and their property loss. These are vital tools that help citizens to assert their rights, even against the largest companies in the world who have seemingly unlimited amounts of money to spend on defending themselves.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective product, don’t wait. Pick up the phone and call us for a free consultation.