Product Defects That Can Lead to Personal Injury Cases

One of the major causes of personal injuries is defective or malfunctioning products. Note that a product can become faulty at any stage of its development, design, or distribution. Even if a product doesn’t pose any glitch, it can still cause harm to the user if it lacks sufficient instructions to use it safely. Some items, in particular, are responsible for an overwhelming number of product defects and resulting injuries. Some of those items include;

• Children’s toys
• Airbags and other automobile parts
• Gas heaters
• Portable generators
• Pharmaceutical drugs
• Medical devices
• Construction materials
• Food and beverages

If you or someone you love has been a victim to such defective goods, file a personal injury lawsuit against the product manufacturer or the party responsible for your damages. For this, it is recommended to consult a credible and skilled personal injury lawyer since you are likely to do a legal battle with some big shots. If you are not familiar with personal injury lawsuits and the claiming process, you can refer to the following points to acquire in-depth knowledge about the same.

Proving the Product That you Used Was Defective

To get compensation for your injuries caused by a defective product on the grounds of product liability, you will have to prove in court that the product was malfunctioning and it resulted in your injuries and other damages. For this, your personal injury attorney may conduct two tests. The first one is the ‘consumer expectations test’, which is considered to evaluate whether or not the design of the product meets the safety expectations of an ordinary consumer.

The second one is the ‘risk benefit test’, which is conducted to evaluate whether the risk posed by the design of the product outweighs the benefits offered by it. For this test, your attorney may consider the following factors.

• The probability that the product design will cause harm eventually
• The potential gravity of any harm caused by the product design
• Whether safer alternative product designs cause any disadvantages
• Whether the company can manufacture safer alternative products that feature the same benefits

Product Liability

The personal injury cases triggered by defective products usually comes under product liability lawsuits. Apart from proving that the defective product resulted in the injuries, you can file a product liability lawsuit based on a breach of implied warranty as well. In simple words, you may claim that the product didn’t function properly even after following all the instructions. Further, your personal injury attorney will have to prove the type of damages you had to endure because of the malfunctioning product to obtain maximum compensation. For this, you may gather the following evidence.

• Paystubs
• Hospital bills
• Medical records
• Witness testimony
• Police report
• Photos of injuries