When a Defective Product is Considered a Liability
Posted July 23rd, 2014 by Anthony Carbone, PC.
Categories: Personal Injury.
The massive GM recall has been all over the news the past few months. A defect in the ignition switch on many of GM car models has led to a number of deaths and has cost the car giant billions. Although the recall can fall under many areas of law, it does shed light on the problem of defective products.
If you have been injured after using a defective product, you may have a defective product liability claim on your hands. There are generally three categories that product liability can fall under:
Defectively manufactured products – this happens when the product that has caused the injury was defectively manufactured. What this means is the product had become flawed when there was an error in making it. Such as a wheel on your bike was not as tightly screwed on as the others had been. So while riding your bike, your wheel falls off, causing you to crash on the road and break your arm. Since the cause of the accident is because of the defective bike, you have a claim.
Defectively designed products – What makes this product defective is not because of some error in the manufacturing, but because the fault in the design of the product. So the product itself could be manufactured exactly as specified, but that doesn’t make it safe. This means your product is not the only one that causes harm – it is the whole line.
Failure to Provide Warnings/Instructions – So let’s say you just bought a chemical cleaner. As you begin using the product, you begin to feel light-headed and sick to your stomach. Little did you realize that you needed to dilute the cleaner with water before using the product. Why didn’t you know this? Because there was no warning or mention to do so on the packaging. Since the manufacturing failed to warn you of the dangers of the cleaner, this is a case of product liability.
Have you been injured by a defective product? We can help! For more than 25 years, the Law Offices of Anthony Carbone, PC have been helping the people in the Jersey City area get what they deserve. Contact us today for a free consultation.
