It is common to put trust in different manufacturers and their products. Unfortunately, too often, this trust is broken. Specifically, defective products are put on shelves and made available to consumers leading to harm, injury, and in the worst of examples, death. Even more devastating, many product liability cases can be prevented.
Specifically, product liability is defined as: “The responsibility of a manufacturer or vendor of goods to compensate for injury caused by defective merchandise that it has provided for sale.”
But what does that definition mean, exactly?
What Is Product Liability?
The law requires that all manufactured products must meet the ordinary expectations of the consumer. If a product has a defect, then it obviously fails to meet such expectations. When this occurs, each state across the country has its own consumer protection laws set in place, covering the following categories: negligence, strict liability, and breach of warranty.
Negligence. For a product to be considered negligent, the consumer must prove that negligence existed during the manufacturing process of that product. Negligence can relate to any act or failure to act, resulting in the consumer suffering negative consequences.
Strict Liability. A consumer may have a successful strict liability case without proving negligence occurred. Particularly, the manufacturer can still be held liable for any damages caused to the consumer if the product has inherent design flaws, manufacturing errors, or marketing defects.
Breach of Warranty. A consumer may have a breach of warranty case if it can be proven that the manufacturer failed to fulfill the terms of a promise, claim, or representation made in regards to the quality or type of product produced.
As you can see, there is a myriad of components in connection with product liability laws and cases. Not to take away from the significance of any other type of accident or tragedy, but it can be argued that a product liability case needs legal assistance more so than other types of cases.
Contact a product liability attorney at C. Ray Carlson today. We serve the following areas: Valencia, Stevenson Ranch, Santa Clarita, Fillmore, Santa Paula, and San Fernando Valley.
