DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS
Imagine if the fuel tank of your car exploded during a collision with another vehicle. Imagine if a medication that you took to cure digestive problems caused a deadly cancer. Well, these scenarios actually occurred . And it was largely through the effort of lawyers who sued the manufacturers for making defective products that the problems were exposed and corrected.
Elements of a Defective Product Case
Generally speaking, the law puts the burden on a manufacturer to produce a safe product. It holds the manufacturer liable for all injuries that occur when the product is used as intended. It doesn’t matter whether the manufacturer knew the product to be dangerous. . The first element that a defective product plaintiff needs to prove is that the product was defective.
The law groups product defects into three categories: design, manufacturing, and marketing defects. Marketing defects occur when a product is advertised or sold for a dangerous purpose. Marketing defects may include inadequate warnings. Most of the cases against the tobacco industry in the last several decades fall into this category . In these cases, The plaintiffs typically convinced courts that the tobacco companies had failed to warn consumers of the risks of smoking, and due to this failure, the consumers became chronic smokers and suffered illness and death as a result.
A design defect occurs when a product’s design makes it unreasonably dangerous. The gas tank in the Ford Pinto that I discussed above was defectively designed because it wasn’t insulated from the engine.
A manufacturing defect is a problem that occurs during the manufacturing process that makes the product unreasonably dangerous and to not conform to the intended design of the product. This is often an issue with cars that have complicated supply chains where many different companies can supply parts. Often cars are recalled to fix manufacturing defects that cause safety problems.
The other elements that you would need to prove are:
Loss. that you suffered an actual injury or financial loss as a result of using the manufacturer’s product.
Cause. that the product’s defect caused your injury.
Product used as intended. You must show that your injury occurred when you were using the product as the manufacturer intended it to be used.
Liable Parties
So who is liable if you are injured by a defective product? Florida law makes all parties in the chain of distribution of a defective product liable when the defect causes injury. So, if you purchased a defective lawnmower at Home Depot that caused you an injury, you have the option of suing Home Depot the manufacturer or both for your injuries.
Damages
In a defective products suit, you can recover compensation for:
Medical bills for treatment of injuries caused by the defective product
Lost income
Emotional distress resulting from the accident or injuries
Pain and suffering
Wrongful death if the defective product caused the death of a family member
Important Laws and Cases
Florida Statute Section 768.81 defines a product liability action. West v. Caterpillar Tractor Co. , 336 So. 2d 80 (Fla. 1976) and Aubin v. Union Carbide Corp., 177 So. 3d 489 (Fla. 2015) are important cases in that they set forth the strict liability consumer expectation test for product design defects.
Defective products cases are often complex and not what they initially seem. When products turn out to be dangerous and cause injury that’s when you need a good defective products lawyer on your side.