Jersey County Product Liability Lawyer

Faulty products injure thousands of people every year in the United States. You, as a consumer, should not have to worry whether a product is safe to use or not.

Product liability refers to the manufacturer being held liable for releasing a defective product for sale to the general public. If you were injured by a faulty good, speak to an experienced attorney. A Jersey County product liability lawyer could advise you in your case.

How Can a Product be Defective?

You can consider a product defective if it has:

Design Defects

If the product design makes it unreasonably dangerous, then it has a design defect.

Manufacturing Defect

If, while manufacturing a product, a mistake that makes the product dangerous occurs, then you have a manufacturing defect.

Advertising Defect or Failure to Warn

If using a product presents some risk and does not have appropriate warning labels, then the product has failed to warn the consumer. A product with an advertising defect is also considered a defective product.

This defect also applies when a company markets a product for a purpose for which it is not suited.

Types of Product Defect Claims

There are three legal theories a Jersey County lawyer can file a product liability lawsuit under:

Strict Liability

Strict liability is the idea that a defendant can be responsible for all damages or personal injuries to a plaintiff, whether they are at fault or not. Unlike typical injury claims, negligence is not necessary for the defendant to be held liable. Without strict liability laws, injured plaintiffs would not be able to win any lawsuits and receive damages.

The plaintiff has to prove that the manufacturer engaged in unsafe conduct during the design, manufacture, or distribution of the product. To win a strict liability case, you need to prove that:

• The product was unreasonably dangerous before it got into the plaintiff’s hands.
• The product reached the consumer without any changes by third parties
• The defective product caused injury to the plaintiff

Note that strict liability does not mean automatic liability. The defendant can still successfully defend against the case.

Breach of Warranty

You can file a breach of warranty lawsuit if the promise made by the manufacturer or seller proves to be false or broken. The Uniform Commercial Code governs the conditions that invalidate a warranty.

A merchant can void warranties if:

• The warranty period ended when they made their claim
• The part in question, or type of damage, is not covered by the warranty.
• The product failed due to misuse
• The claimant is not the original owner

To win a breach of warranty case, you need to prove:

• The warranty was still in effect
• The defect is major
• The consumer did cause the defect through misuse

Negligence

All individuals in the design, manufacturing and distribution pipeline have a duty to provide safe products. If any one of these individuals, through their action or inaction, fails to give reasonable care and the product causes injury, they can be held liable.

If the defendant or company cannot prove negligence was not involved in how the defect came to be, they will be held liable.