What is Product Liability Law?

27 Jan What is Product Liability Law?

Product liability law is widely misunderstood. When the media reports cases where companies are sued for defective products, they tend to concentrate on the jury award amounts, which are sometimes quite high. The cases where it seems like the individual who was harmed should have known better also tend to get more play than the cases where someone was seriously injured. This tends to skew the public’s perception of these laws, but they’re very sensible, in all reality.

In a product liability claim, the party suing may claim that they were harmed in several different ways. They may claim that hazards inherent to the product were not clarified by the manufacturer. They may also claim that the manufacturing process used for the product was flawed and, as a result, they were harmed by a faulty product. They may also claim that the product, when used as intended, was inherently dangerous. As an example of how this influences consumer products, you’ll find printed warnings on most items that are dangerous when used correctly. Lawnmowers, for instance, have many warnings on them about the dangers of flying objects striking your eyes and of the dangers of coming too close to the blades.

These laws aren’t frivolous and some people are severely injured by products they had every reason to believe were safe. Cases where defective tires, for instance, have caused rollover crashes on some vehicles injured several people. Cars that where prone to starting on fire, such as the Ford Pinto, have also injured many people. When people file these claims, there usually is a good reason behind it. In many cases, they’re filing the claim to recover, in part, the expenses they paid in medical bills due to being injured by the products. This type of claim is fairly common and liability law helps keep the consumer market safe.

Product liability law will not cover you if you use a product against its intended purposes. You cannot, for example, install a television antenna right next to a power line and say you were injured because the antenna was an electrical hazard. The outcome of these cases is oftentimes very sensible and manufacturers are held responsible for what they put on the market in this way. If you’ve been injured by a product that you weren’t misusing, you may want to contact a lawyer about the matter to see if you can file a suit.