WHAT ARE THE CATEGORIES OF PRODUCT LIABILITY TO RAISE A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT LAWSUIT?

A product can be defective for any number of reasons. A food product can be termed defective if it contains a harmful ingredient. A medication or medical device is defective if it causes some unforeseen side injury, or a car can be called defective because of the failure of a particular part in it. In general however defective products come in three categories:

• Defective product design
• Product defectively manufactured
• Not providing sufficient instructions or warnings about how the product is to be used

You need to have a clear understanding about these categories to decide whether you have a binding claim and how you can best present it.

Fortunately most states have the same laws when it comes to defective product liability but the key is to prove that the product was defective, and the defect was the cause of injury.

Defective Product Design

When a claim is based on defective product design the plaintiff has to demonstrate that the product has an inherent design defect which makes it unsafe or dangerous. There is no error in the manufacturing process which strictly adhered to the design. An example of this would be a particular type of sunscreen which fails to offer the level of protection it claims because of which a user sustains skin injury. Injury has happened even though the manufacturer has made the sunscreen strictly in compliance with the designer’s formulation and manufacturing process.

Product Defectively Manufactured

This is the most frequent type of product liability claim made when a defectively manufactured product was the cause of injury. A typical example of this is a motor car with a defective brake cylinder. If you were to be involved with an accident because of brake failure you could raise a defective product claim by proving that the accident was caused because of the defective brake cylinder and not a misjudgment or carelessness on your part.

Not Providing Sufficient Instruction or Warning

A failure to warn claim refers to a product which is not dangerous by itself but becomes dangerous under certain circumstances not particularly obvious unless the user is specifically warned about it calling for a certain degree of care and diligence in its use. A typical example is a medication which can cause drowsiness or another which could have dangerous side effects if taken on an empty stomach.

If you have been injured because of what you believe to be a defective product, consult an injury attorney about your possibility in filing a defective product lawsuit.