When you buy and use a product for its intended purpose, you expect that product to work. If it does not do what was promised, you will probably take it back for a refund. Sometimes, products not only fail to live up to advertised expectations but malfunction or come with defects that actually hurt the user. A refund is not enough to cover those losses.
If you sustain an injury from a defective product, connect with a Forest Acres personal injury lawyer from Shelly Leeke right away. You can fight to hold the party responsible for making or selling the harmful product accountable and potentially receive much-needed compensation and justice for your losses. Schedule a free consultation with a Forest Acres product liability lawyer.
Understanding Product Liability
In product liability claims, a victim harmed by a product brings a civil case against the party responsible for manufacturing or selling that product. Through the case, the plaintiff will pursue a financial settlement to compensate them for the injuries they have suffered and the related consequences of those injuries. Claims typically allege manufacturing, design, or marketing defects.
- Manufacturing Defect: The product is properly designed, but something went wrong during manufacturing, and the product left the manufacturer in a defective condition, ultimately causing the user injury.
- Design Defect: A product’s improper design caused its failure to work safely, even if used as intended by the consumer.
- Marketing Defect: The product did not come with a clear, thorough explanation of its potential dangers or with comprehensive and understandable instructions for its proper use.
Injuries Caused by Defective Products
Defective products can cause a variety of injuries. Whatever the injury, consequences can be severe, even deadly, and innocent product users must be compensated for the damages they suffer. Whether you need to file a product liability claim to collect damages for an injury or a wrongful death, a product liability attorney in Forest Acres can help.
Choking Hazards
Sadly, products that cause choking hazards are often children’s toys. Small pieces can break off poorly constructed toys or toys made from inferior materials. When they find their way into the small fingers, mouths, and airways of babies, toddlers, or small children, disaster can result.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) has regulations in place to protect our smallest product users. Manufacturers may violate these regulations even inadvertently, or product inspectors may fail to recognize the violation, and tragedies can follow. A Forest Acres product liability attorney will work tirelessly to hold the at-fault party accountable for their devastating negligence.
Burns
Though hoverboards, e-bikes, laptops, and e-cigarettes do not seem to have much in common with household cleaning products, these items share a common danger. When they are created improperly or malfunction, they can all cause burns. The lithium batteries powering electronic devices can overheat, often while charging, and burst into flames.
Clearing solutions contain strong chemicals that can burn the skin, eyes, airways, nasal passages, or other areas that come into unintended contact with them. This contact can happen if a product does not come with a thorough and understandable warning label or set of instructions. If packaging is poorly designed, products can spill on or spray users as they struggle to open it.
Serious Diseases
Some products contain toxic chemicals or bacteria that can cause cancers or other infections. In July 2018, a Louisiana jury awarded plaintiffs massive compensatory damages in a product liability case asserting the plaintiffs’ ovarian cancer was related to the use of a product that did not adequately explain its dangers. In other cases, parents of infants have brought claims against infant formula companies when babies contracted bacterial infections after consuming allegedly “tainted” formula.
Severe or Catastrophic Injuries
When a product, like a car or a part of that car, malfunctions while in use, the outcomes are frequently severe. Motor-vehicle crashes can cause broken bones, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), spinal cord injuries, soft tissue damage, lacerations, amputations, and burns, among other injuries. In the most tragic cases, the accidents are fatal.
Compensation for Damages from Defective Products
Product liability cases fall under the legal category of “personal injury. In South Carolina, victims may receive economic, non-economic, and punitive damages from the at-fault party.
Economic Damages
Costs that affect your bank account are economic damages. They are the medical bills, lost wages, and property damage incurred by the accident and injuries. Your injuries may prevent you from fulfilling family, household, or other everyday responsibilities, and you must hire someone else to do them for you. Those costs also fall under economic damages.
Non-Economic Damages
Though these losses do not have a clear-cut dollar amount, they have significant value. Compensation for non-economic damages acknowledges your pain, emotional distress, and losses to your quality of life. An experienced product liability lawyer in Forest Acres will assess these losses with care and ensure your settlement demand recognizes them fully.
Punitive Damages
Punitive damages are not available in every case, but if your situation warrants them, Shelly Leeke will fight for them. These damages are not compensatory but “punish” the at-fault party for the appalling negligence. To collect punitive damages, under South Carolina Code §15-32-510, you must present “clear and convincing evidence” that the at-fault party acted with “wilful, wanton, or reckless conduct.”
Holding the At-Fault Party Accountable
A Forest Acres product liability attorney will work tirelessly to prove the at-fault party’s negligence and hold them financially accountable for your damages. From start to finish, your attorney will handle all legalities so you can concentrate on recovering. Your lawyer will:
- Investigate your accident comprehensively, discovering the cause of the incident and discovering the at-fault party
- Collet evidence to prove the at-fault party’s negligence caused the incident leading to your injuries.
- Calculate your losses thoroughly, not underestimating any costs or overlooking any details.
- Make a fair settlement demand and manage–skillfully–all settlement negotiations with the at-fault party’s representative and insurance company.
- Represent you in court should you need to go to trial. Most injury cases settle out of court, but if the at-fault party refuses to pay you fairly and you have to go before a jury, your attorney will be ready to fight for you at every trial proceeding.
Empathetic and Experienced Representation
The team at Shelly Leeke cares about what you are going through, and we fight for your rights as a victim. Connect with us today to partner with an empathetic and experienced Forest Acres product liability lawyer. Our team does not quit, as our history of success shows. We look forward to working with you and adding your name to our list of satisfied clients.
