The law of product liability allows people to seek compensation for the injuries and damages that they suffered after they were injured by a dangerously defective product. This area of personal injury law involves just about any product that you can think of, so long as you use the product for its intended purpose. Any entity from the manufacturer down to the retailer of a dangerously defective product can be held liable for damages. Those entities even include manufacturers of component parts or assemblers.
Strict Liability
A defective product attorney in Chicago is likely to rely on the law of strict product liability when bringing a claim or lawsuit on behalf of a client. Strict liability can attach when one of the following conditions exists:
- Design Defects: These come from the drawing board and blueprints. All products in the line have the same defect.
- Manufacturing Defects: Only a few products in the line will have a manufacturing defect. These might be products that somehow slipped through inspection when they shouldn’t have passed.
- Failure to Warn: This involves products with inadequate warnings like a medication that shouldn’t be taken with another medication or with the use of alcohol.
Defenses
Strict liability isn’t so strict though. There are three defenses that are commonly raised in product liability cases. They follow:
- Identification: This involves allegations that the injured person failed to sufficiently identify the allegedly liable supplier of the product.
- Alteration: The claimant may have altered the product after it left the stream of commerce, and that alteration caused his or her injuries.
- Misuse: A product must be used for its intended purpose. For example, injuries from an exploding pair of pliers that were being used to pound a nail aren’t compensable.
Most product liability cases involve complex theories of design and engineering that are beyond the grasp of the ordinary person. If you were seriously injured by a dangerously defective product, contact a defective products attorney in Chicago to arrange for a free consultation and case evaluation. Call the Business Name at 000-000-0000, or use our online contact form.
