When you purchase a new product online or in a brick and mortar store, you have the right to expect the product to be safe when used as it is intended. Products can malfunction, but that's not always the fault of those who made or sold those items. In addition, some products, such as fireworks or industrial explosives are inherently dangerous. If you suffer injury because of a product defect, that's an entirely different matter and there may be one or more parties liable for your suffering.
When a personal injury claim is filed in court, the burden of proof lies with the party bringing the lawsuit. Not only must you prove that the product in question caused your injury, you must also show evidence that the defendant or defendants were negligent in designing, manufacturing or marketing the product.
Tracing a defect back to its origin
Whether you're talking about a home appliance, medication or something as large as an automobile, there are three major categories of defects:
- Manufacturing problems: When mass production of a product takes place, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives may be at risk if something goes wrong. Any number of scenarios or types of negligence can render an otherwise well-designed product unsafe.
- Design issues: Then again, sometimes a product's defect lies in the way it is designed. If the product has a fundamental design flaw, then it cannot be used as intended without risk to consumers' safety.
- Marketing negligence: If you get sick from a particular medicine (or combination of drugs) or otherwise suffer injury because the product you used lacked sufficient warning labels or was misrepresented in advertising in some way, you may have grounds for filing a personal injury lawsuit to recover your losses in court.
Many product defects are serious enough to cause death. However, even less-than fatal injuries can negatively affect your life by causing you to lose time at work and creating undue financial hardship from any medical care you need. Once you determine what type of defect you're dealing with, you can set out to identify who may be liable.
Many recovering product injury victims in Texas seek representation from experienced attorneys in order to construct their cases against parties who are responsible for their financial losses and pain and suffering.