When we purchase goods, we trust that they are safe for their intended use. This trust is so profound that many of us probably don’t give it much thought. We just presume that the food we buy is safe to eat, that the electronics we buy won’t unexpectedly burst into flames, or that the seatbelts and airbags in the car we buy will work as intended.
Unfortunately, sometimes this trust is misplaced. For a variety of reasons, dangerous products sometimes end up in the marketplace, where they are purchased by unsuspecting consumers. At best, these defects can lead to nothing more than a disappointing experience. At worst, they can lead to serious injury or death.
An introduction to product liability
If you have been injured due to a defective product, your life will be affected in many ways. You may have enormous medical expenses and loss of income from the time you are unable to work, and these are on top of your pain and other effects. The law refers to these costs as damages. Product liability is a legal theory that can allow people injured by defective products to recover compensation for their damages.
Product liability (sometimes known as products liability) is a highly complex area of the law, but the general idea behind it is that all those responsible for putting a dangerous product into the marketplace may be held liable for the damages suffered by a person who was injured by the defective product. This theory underlies a wide variety of cases involving a dizzying range of products including children’s toys, automotive parts, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and much more.
One of the features that makes product liability so complex is that the defects can come about at different points in the process of getting the product to market. Some products are defective by design. Others have good designs, but something in the manufacturing process made it unsafe. There are also products that are defectively marketed, as when they have insufficient safety instructions.
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Because product liability law is so complex, it’s important for the injured and their families to seek out help from attorneys who have experience with this area of the law. An experienced product liability atttorney can help them understand their legal rights and options to seek compensation for their damages.