Product Liability Lawyers

Products may be defective in three main ways: manufacturing, marketing, or design. Manufacturing defects usually exist in only one unit of a product or one batch. They arise from a problem during the manufacturing process. A design defect exists in all of the units of the product and involves a flaw that makes the product unreasonably dangerous. Marketing defects are flaws in the information that the manufacturer provides about the product. They are also known as failures to warn. This is a common problem in cases involving dangerous prescription drugs, for example. In this type of case, a victim is often claiming that the manufacturer failed to provide adequate warnings about an unreasonably dangerous aspect of the product and that this failure caused their injuries.

Depending on the state, there may be multiple different theories of liability under which you may be able to bring a lawsuit for damages. In Tennessee, for example, you may be able to recover compensation for injuries caused by a defective product by using theories of strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, misrepresentation, or concealment.

Generally, strict liability does not require a victim to establish the manufacturer or seller’s duty of care and a breach of the duty. Instead, you will need to prove that a dangerous defect caused your injuries and damages. For example, if the ignition of your car has a manufacturing defect, such that the car suddenly decelerates and stops in traffic, causing an accident, you may be able to recover damages from the manufacturer of the car. For strict liability to apply, the product must have been in an unreasonably dangerous or defective condition at the time that it left the manufacturer’s control.

If you establish a manufacturer or seller’s liability, you likely can recover compensatory damages, including medical costs, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Moreover, if misrepresentation or concealment was involved, you may be able to recover punitive damages. These are damages designed to punish and deter wrongdoing. For example, if a drug company conducts a study and learns that a particular medication has a chance of causing stomach cancer, but it conceals this from the FDA so that it can get approval for the medication, it might be appropriate to ask for punitive damages if a patient develops stomach cancer as a result.