Products Liability

When you purchase any sort of product, whether it is a new tool, a household cleaner, a children’s toy, or food, you expect it to be safe. You expect to be able to take the new item home and use it immediately, without any fear of injury. There are limits to this of course. New tools come with warnings to keep fingers, limbs, and eyes safe. Household cleaners should be kept out of the reach of children, and a toy should be age-appropriate for its recipient. Within these common sense limits, no harm should come to the user. Yes sometimes, it does. There are products that make it to the shelves that are not as safe as they should be. When these defective products make it to your home and cause you or a loved one injury, your next best step is to contact a San Francisco product liability attorney at the Brod Law Firm. You may have the right to file a product liability claim and seek compensation for your physical, psychological, and financial injuries.

Products can be defective and dangerous in one or more ways. The three overarching types of defects are:

• Design defects: In this type of defect, all of the products are more dangerous than they should be because they were not designed to be as safe as possible. When you claim that you were injured by a product that was defectively designed, you are alleging that the entire product failed to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect when the product was used either as intended or in a way that was reasonably foreseeable. You may also be able to establish that a product is defectively designed if the benefits of the design do not outweigh the risk of danger inherent in it. Call a product liability attorney in San Francisco to discuss this type of claim.
• Manufacturing defects: In many cases, a product was adequately designed but something went wrong in the creation and assembly of the product. If you believe you were hurt by a product with a manufacturing defect, you must show that the product you purchased is different than the intended design or that it is different than other typical units of that product. You must be able to prove there was an unintended flaw that made created a dangerous product.
• Warning defects: There are some products that will never be entirely safe. There is always a risk that an electric tool could cause physical injury or that a child could be harmed if they ingested a cleaning product. When you purchase products that are designed as safely as possible, yet have inherent risks, then these products should have adequate warnings regarding how they should not be handled, used, stored, etc. If a manufacturer, distributor, or seller of a product failed to include adequate warnings regarding a product and you were hurt because of your lack of information, you may have a product liability claim.

Determining the type of claim you have can be difficult. Do not hesitate to reach out to a San Francisco product liability lawyer at the Brod Law Firm with your questions.

When you sue another person or business, claiming they are responsible for your injuries, you must put forth a theory of liability. This is the reason why they are responsible. California recognizes that there may be multiple reasons why a designer, manufacturer, distributor, or retailer of a product may be liable for the harm you suffered because of a product, including:

• Negligence: When you file a product liability claim on the basis of negligence, you are alleging that the defendant acted in a way that breached its due of care to consumers. You are stating that the defendant’s action (or inaction) was careless, or worse, reckless. Under this theory, you must prove that the defendant did something wrong and they could have behaved in a way that upheld their responsibility to consumers.
• Strict liability: Under a strict liability claim, you do not have to prove the defendant did anything wrong. Instead, the defendant is simply legally liable because they are responsible for the product and any harm that product causes.

If you are unsure of whether you can sue a business based on negligence, strict liability, or both, call an experienced product liability lawyer serving San Francisco consumers.

If you have been injured by a product, or if you lost a loved one because of a dangerous item, call us at the Brod Law Firm right away. We will go over your case from top to bottom and will then explain your rights and legal options. If it appears that your injuries were the result of a defective product, we will help you pursue compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, disfigurement, disability, and more.

Call (800) 427-7020 or contact us online to schedule a free case evaluation.