PERSONAL INJURY — SLIP & FALL
What You Need to Know About Product Liability
In today’s world, most people depend on a variety of consumer goods to make their lives easier. You may not realize it, but products are all around you — from the car you drive to work, to the toys you buy for your child. In most cases, these products are safe and perform precisely how they are supposed to. In some cases, however, a product has a design flaw that causes injury. In other cases, a product is inherently dangerous and should have never been sold in the first place.
THE BASICS
Take a look around your home or your office, and you can see why product liability law is such a major category within personal injury law. Within recent years, auto recalls — particularly those associated with defective air bags — have dominated news headlines and set records for the largest vehicle recalls in history. Each year, government regulators remove dangerous medications from the market. There have also been product liability cases involving dangerous electronics, including cell phones and laptops that have overheated and sometimes even burst into flames.
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Practice areas we handle
These cases represent just a small sample of the breadth and scope of possible defective product claims. In our Virginia product liability practice, we regularly handle the following types of dangerous product cases:
Toys
Electronics
Medication
Motor vehicles
Lawn equipment
Home appliances
Medical devices and implants
Cleaning supplies
Tools and equipment
Food and beverages
What can product liability result from?
There are four primary ways that product liability can result:
Defect in design
A defect in the design of the product can cause death or severe injury. For example, sports equipment could suddenly collapse due to the manufacturer not designing it properly. Or you could have a particular type of car that tends to pull to one side or the other after reaching a certain speed.
Failure to warn of a potential danger
Failure to warn of a potential danger deals with products that do not adequately warn consumers of risks, such as a soda bottle that suddenly explodes after being left in a car on a warm summer day. Or corrosive household chemicals that do not provide adequate warnings on the label.
However, keep in mind that you must not use the product in a way that it wasn’t intended to be used. For example, suppose you try to use a metal butter knife to clear an obstruction inside an electrical socket and wind up getting electrocuted. In that case, you cannot sue the manufacturer because it wasn’t intended, implied, nor labeled to perform such a task.
Defects in manufacturing
Defects in manufacturing deal with products that weren’t manufactured correctly. For example, a swing set could have a chain designed with inferior materials that cause it to not withstand the expected weight of the person using the swing. Another example is if foreign objects such as glass shards could have somehow found their way inside a soda can. For medical products, a batch of over-the-counter medicine could have become tainted during the manufacturing process.
Failure to properly maintain equipment or products
If an equipment or product owner does not properly maintain equipment for rent, then such lack of maintenance often times can result in injury. An example is when the brakes do not work on a scooter or bicycle leading to injury due to lack of maintenance.
Medical treatment and rehabilitation costs
Pain and suffering
Lost wages and reduced earning ability
Emotional Distress
Long-term medical care needs
Wrongful death damages for families who lost a loved one
W. Thomas Yi & Associates works to recover compensation that reflects both the immediate and long-term impact of a product-related injury.
Compensation Available in a Product Liability Case
Injuries caused by dangerous products can create lasting financial and personal consequences. A product liability claim may allow victims to recover compensation for losses related to the injury.
types of cases
You don’t need to have everything figured out
You don't need to know whether you have a case before calling. You only need to know that you were injured and have questions. We'll listen to what happened on the road, ask focused questions about the accident, and help you understand whether W. Thomas Yi & Associates can help you recover.
Guidance When You Need It Most
Since 1994, W. Thomas Yi & Associates has proudly served the diverse communities of Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Our attorneys understand the physical, emotional, and financial weight that a serious medical error places on a family, and we bring decades of personal injury experience to the pursuit of fair compensation for everything you have lost. The clearest way to learn whether your experience qualifies as malpractice is a conversation with an experienced attorney who can review the facts of your case.
We offer every prospective client a free, confidential consultation. As a multicultural, multilingual firm, we can assist clients in several languages so the details of your case are never lost in translation.