General Information about Product Liability Lawsuits

You have probably heard of product liability lawsuits in the news, and may now believe that you have cause to seek legal advice and talk to an attorney yourself about filing a suit to collect compensation due to product liability.

What is Product Liability?

Distributors, manufacturers, suppliers, retailers and other parties who make goods available to the public are held legally responsible if one of the products should cause harm, personal injury or property damage to someone. This responsibility is called product liability.

There are several theories of product liability, legally speaking.

One is negligence. This simply means that a manufacturer or distributor failed to exercise reasonable care and either failed to do what should have been properly done, or conversely; did something that shouldn’t have been done, and either action resulted in harm to another party.

Another basis of a product liability lawsuit is misrepresentation. This might mean that buyers were not made aware of potential hazards or dangers of a product, or that they were given false information.

Strict tort liability is one theory of liability. This one means that the responsibility of the vendor or maker is extended to any and all persons who might be injured by a product, even in the absence of proven fault. Basically, this means that if a person shot a defective gun at a firing range and it exploded and blinded the person adjacent to the shooter, the manufacturer and/or vendor is responsible for that person’s injuries, too, even though the other person was not the actual buyer. This can also be applied in cases where a car accident due to a faulty brake system injured someone outside of the vehicle.

Yet another cause for filing a product liability lawsuit is a breach of warranty. This means that a seller has to fulfill a promise made, or warranty, or representation made about the quality of a product.

There are all manner of situations in which you might want to see a lawyer about a product liability lawsuit. Many such suits have been in the news for years, especially those against pharmaceutical companies and the tobacco industry. If you or a loved one has suffered injury or property damage due to a defective product or a product that was represented falsely, you should talk to a personal injury attorney as soon as possible.