When we think about defective products, we often picture an item that simply doesn’t work well. Most of the time, you can take the item back to the store for a refund if it doesn’t live up to its advertising.
But what if the product injures you? Returning it to the store won’t help with your medical bills, lost income, or other damages. You need assistance with these losses.
Seek Help From a Kennesaw Defective Product Attorney
If you believe or suspect a product has injured you, a defective product attorney can help you determine if you’re right. If so, we may be able to pursue compensation for your damages.
What Kind of Products Might Be Defective?
Almost any kind of product can be defective, but here are some common categories of products that we often see in these cases:
Motor Vehicles, Low-Speed Vehicles, or Components for Vehicles
Any vehicle meant to carry people from one place to another could cause injury if it’s defective. For the purposes of a defective product claim, a vehicle can be anything from a car to a golf cart to a boat to a bicycle.
It’s crucial to understand that most accidents involving vehicles are not caused by a defective vehicle. Often, these accidents occur due to driver/operator error, weather conditions, property hazards, or the actions of a third party.
However, if none of these explanations make sense in your case, and you feel that the vehicle responded abnormally before or during the crash, it’s possible it was defective. For instance, if you applied the brakes and nothing happened, the brakes might have been defective (assuming the vehicle was relatively new and not due for normal brake maintenance).
Another example might be if you securely connected your seatbelt, which popped open unexpectedly during the accident, causing you to be ejected. In this situation, it’s possible the seatbelt is defective and worsened your injuries.
Drugs or Medical Devices
About two-thirds of adults in the US take prescription medication, and around 10 percent have an implanted medical device. It’s not unusual for drugs or devices to be recalled, either by the manufacturer or the FDA, due to safety concerns.
Some of these situations are transient, and the drug or device is back on the market quickly. Others uncover a severe safety problem that must be corrected.
Many people don’t connect a new, serious health problem with their medication or medical device – especially if they have been using the same drug or device for a long time. But long-term use doesn’t mean you can never develop a serious side effect.
Sometimes, a design flaw can cause you problems years after you begin using the medication, and in other cases, you may have simply gotten a bad or contaminated batch of medication that was produced incorrectly.
If you have developed any serious health complications while using a medication or medical device – especially if your condition is rare or unusual for someone your age – it’s worth considering whether your treatment could be related. A defective product lawyer can help you look into other complaints made against a specific medication or medical device and determine if there is a pattern of the product causing harm.
Food or Health and Beauty Products
These are not classified as drugs but usually fall under the purview of the FDA. Most cosmetics used externally – such as makeup, shampoo, or skin creams – don’t need to be approved by the FDA, but they do need to be labeled accurately. If a cosmetic product is contaminated with toxins, bacteria, or allergens not specified on the label, it could potentially cause serious harm to consumers.
With food products, failing to label allergens correctly is one of the most common causes of harm to consumers. If you suspect a food or beauty product caused you severe illness or injury, please contact a defective product lawyer to learn more.
Household Appliances
Most appliances are electric, which means that if something goes wrong, there could be a risk of the product overheating or electrocuting a consumer. Fires, burns, and electrocution injuries are all common in household appliance cases.
There are also situations where an appliance comes apart and a component strikes someone nearby. Or there could be issues with injuries while the person is using the appliance, such as a malfunctioning electric knife that turns on unexpectedly and cuts the user.
Safety Equipment
People who enjoy sports, outdoor recreation, or even riding a motorcycle or ATV all understand the importance of safety equipment. Helmets, goggles, restraints – if any of these items fail, they can leave you vulnerable to injury or more severe injuries than you might have had otherwise.
Safety equipment isn’t just for recreation, either. Many employees who work in construction, roofing, or other potentially dangerous jobs rely on this equipment to keep them safe.
For instance, a roofer might use a harness or “fall arrest” in case they accidentally fall while working on a roof. What if you fall from a roof and this equipment doesn’t stop your fall, despite the fact that you used it according to the manufacturer’s instructions?
In this situation, the equipment may be responsible for the injuries you received falling off the roof.
In cases involving workers, it’s essential to know that Worker’s Compensation covers most workplace injuries. However, this no-fault compensation system only pays for medical care and about two-thirds of the worker’s typical pay.
Often, clients tell us that they had a hard enough time getting by on full pay, and this reduction in income has caused them severe financial hardship. Worker’s Compensation usually precludes suing your employer for your injuries, but it’s still possible to sue a third party, such as the manufacturer of a defective safety harness, for damages not covered by Worker’s Compensation.
Industrial Equipment
We also see cases involving chainsaws, table saws, backhoes, tractors, cleaning equipment, and other large appliances that are typically used in a commercial rather than a household environment. As with the previous example, if you were injured by defective industrial equipment at work, you may still be able to file a third-party claim against the manufacturer even if you receive Worker’s Compensation.
How Do You Know If You Were Affected by a Defective Product?
If we can find evidence that you were injured because a product was unreasonably unsafe, you may be able to seek compensation from the manufacturer. In most situations, it’s necessary to demonstrate that:
- The product was in an unsafe, defective condition when it injured you.
- The product was in substantially the same condition at the time of your injury as when it left the factory. In other words, you did not alter the product in a way that rendered it unsafe. Sometimes, the product is damaged in shipping or in the hands of an intermediary – such as the store where you bought it. If a retailer or wholesaler damaged it and caused the unsafe condition, you may be able to pursue a claim against that entity if we can find evidence they caused the defective condition.
- You used the product as a “reasonable” person would, which usually means you followed the manufacturer’s instructions and didn’t take any wild or unnecessary risks. It’s important to show that the manufacturer should have reasonably foreseen that consumers might utilize the product in the way you used it.
- You suffered injuries as a result of the defective product.
Sometimes, it can be challenging to determine if what happened to you fits these criteria. You may think the defective product caused your injuries, but how can you prove it?
The best way to find out is to speak with a defective product lawyer who can help you search for evidence of the defect.
Your attorney might ask if you still have the defective product so experts can examine it. If at all possible, please try to save the product in its current condition (don’t have it repaired until you speak with a lawyer).
How Do You Prove a Product Was Defective?
Your lawyer and their investigative team will work to gather evidence to show the product’s defect and how it harmed you. Depending on the situation, this might include:
- Interviewing witnesses. Sometimes, witnesses are people who saw your accident because they might be able to add insight into the events that led up to it. In other cases, we may talk to other people who used the same product and experienced a similar accident or injury.
- Studying the product and consulting experts. In many cases, an expert can point out a design flaw that makes the product unreasonably dangerous.
- Reading any literature, such as instruction manuals or drug facts, that came with the product. Sometimes, a product is only dangerous in specific circumstances, and a warning about these circumstances mitigates any unreasonable danger. This is why you often see a long list of potential side effects and interactions for drugs and medical devices. If a manufacturer warns consumers not to take a drug if they have a specific condition, then the drug is probably not unreasonably dangerous overall, but only in certain situations – which the company has warned patients about.
- Video evidence. If we can find a video showing your accident or injury, this can be helpful in showing that your injuries weren’t caused by your own errors or misuse of the device. This is crucial because it’s likely the manufacturer will defend itself by claiming you used the device in an unforeseeable or unreasonably dangerous way.
How Can You Get Help From a Kennesaw Defective Product Law Firm?
Please contact the CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm for a free consultation about your case. We’ll review your injury or accident, do further research if necessary, and explain your options for pursuing compensation.
If we do take your case, there is no fee unless we win or settle it.
The CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm was founded by lead attorney Ali Awad, who quickly made it one of the fastest-growing law firms in the country. Through his dedication to helping injured people and their families, he has recovered millions of dollars in compensation.
When he’s not working on a case, you can find him delivering no-nonsense legal advice to more than a million followers on social media. You can work with his firm today by calling (470) 323-8779.
