How To Prove a Product Liability Claim

Defectively built or dangerous products can result in serious injuries, medical expenses, and time away from work. If you suffered injuries caused by a defective product, a product liability lawsuit allows you to recover compensation.

This article will give an overview of the different types of product liability claims and how these claims are generally proven. For more information, speak with an experienced product liability lawyer about your situation.

What Are the Elements of a Product Liability Claim?

Product liability claims hold manufacturers, distributors, and sellers liable for their dangerous products. Proving that a product caused an injury is no easy task. It takes time, scientific and medical expertise, and well-documented evidence.

Product liability laws vary by jurisdiction. However, there are usually four things you must prove to win a product liability lawsuit:

Injury

First, you must show that a product injured you. If you had a close call with a defective product but weren’t actually harmed, you won’t have a successful claim.

For example, say you’re using a new knife that was defectively manufactured so that the blade detaches from the handle when used. You’re chopping vegetables, and the blade flies off, nearly injuring your foot. You’re able to move out of the way and not get injured. Even though the knife was defectively built and nearly injured you, you weren’t harmed and won’t have a good claim.

Defectiveness

Next, you must show that the product’s defect is what injured you, not some other reason, such as user error. After all, many products can injure you if you handle them incorrectly. You must show that the reason the product harmed you was that it was defective.

Causation

Next, you have to show that the product’s defect was the proximate cause of your injuries. This simply means that the defective product, and not some other factor at the same time, caused your injuries.

Proper Use

Finally, you must show that you were using the product as intended when it injured you. In the defective knife example, you must show that you were chopping vegetables in a normal way when you got injured, not trying to juggle with the knife or using it improperly.

Three Types of Product Liability Claims

“In general, there are three claims for product liability: Manufacturing claims, design defect claims, and, where there’s a known risk, failure to warn claims,” says New Jersey personal injury lawyer Michael J. Epstein.

1. Manufacturing defect. This is when the defect in the product comes from the product being incorrectly built or manufactured. The design was correct, but the execution was flawed in the manufacturing process. Manufacturing defects tend to happen at the beginning of the distribution chain, at the factory or business where the product was made.
2. Design defect. This is when the product was correctly manufactured according to the product design, but there was an error in the design itself. Proving a defective product design can be more difficult than proving a manufacturing defect. You have to show how the product’s design caused the defect that resulted in your injuries.
3. Failure to warn. This type of case arises when the manufacturer or retailer provides inadequate warnings about a product. These are also known as marketing defects. The product isn’t defectively built or designed, but it is dangerous in a way that the ordinary consumer would not have known without proper labeling or some other type of warning.

Who Is Responsible for Product Defects?

Many different parties along the chain of distribution could be liable for product defects. The party responsible will depend partly on the type of claim you bring. Some of the most common responsible parties include:

• The product manufacturer
• Component parts manufacturers
• Wholesalers of the product
• Retail stores that sell the product

Theories of Liability in Product Defect Claims

There are several legal theories of liability in product defect cases.

Strict Liability

Under strict liability, the product supplier is responsible for injuries resulting from defects even if they were extremely careful in making the product. The injured party doesn’t have to prove intent or negligence, just that the product was defective.

There is strict liability for defective products under state laws. “If a plaintiff proves a product liability claim, then under the product liability statute in New Jersey, there’s strict liability,” says Epstein.

“In most personal injury cases, you’re assessing whether there’s negligence — whether a reasonably prudent person would have committed or failed to do the act. But in strict liability, negligence doesn’t come into play.”

Negligence

Depending on your state and case, some product liability lawsuits may rest on a theory of negligence instead of strict liability.

Under a negligence claim, the supplier has a duty to act with reasonable care in manufacturing, designing, or distributing the product. The supplier failed to exercise reasonable care, which caused the injured person actual harm.

Breach of Warranty

Breach of warranty claims arise when you have a warranty on the product that guarantees the product’s condition, and the product defect violates the warranty. There are two general types of warranties:

• Express warranties. These warranties are explicitly written or orally stated. They often appear on labels and instructions for products.
• Implied warranties. These warranties are legally assumed to apply to the product. For example, state laws assume that products have an implied warranty of merchantability. This means the product is fit for sale and isn’t broken, spoiled, or otherwise defective.

Res Ipsa Loquitur

Res ipsa loquitur is a Latin phrase that means “the thing speaks for itself.” In product liability law, res ipsa loquitur means that a defect in the product would not have existed unless someone was negligent in making it. The defective product “speaks for itself” to the fact that someone was negligent somewhere along the line.

When this theory comes into play in a lawsuit, the burden of proof shifts from the plaintiff to the defendant. In other words, the person harmed (plaintiff) normally has to prove there was a defect that caused their injuries. The burden of proof is on them. But under res ipsa loquitur, the defendant must prove that they were not negligent. The burden of proof is on them.

What Kind of Product Liability Claim Should Your Bring?

As the above list of legal theories shows, product liability can become very complicated. What sort of claim should you bring if a defective product has injured you? How do you get started with proving your case?

“It’s better to reach out to a lawyer sooner rather than later, so the lawyer can protect and preserve [your] rights,” says Epstein.

Speaking with an experienced lawyer is essential. A lawyer will understand the law well and be able to help you formulate the best legal strategy.

Preserve Evidence for Your Product Liability Claim, Including the Defective Product

The most important thing you can do to prepare for a product liability lawsuit is preserve all the evidence. “Don’t change or lose any evidence — first and foremost, the product itself,” says Sean Dormer, of Dormer Harpring in Denver. “Don’t throw any parts of it away — collect all of them, and if it broke, take photos if you can.”

In a recent case, Dormer had a client with a pressure cooker that exploded. “In that situation, it’s natural for people to maybe want to just start cleaning up the destroyed kitchen with food all over it, but it’s really important to get photos before you do that,” he says.

“Unfortunately, preservation is kind of like hindsight for a lot of clients. A lack of preservation doesn’t mean you’re going to lose the case. You should still talk to a lawyer regardless. But ideally, don’t clean things up, don’t repair things, and keep things in a sealed environment if you can.”

The same goes for large products, like a motor vehicle. Even if a defect causes a crash that leads to the car being totaled, Dormer has secured storage facilities to keep the vehicle in question as evidence rather than shipping it off to the junkyard right away.

Also valuable, yet often discarded, are the various forms of documentation that come with a product. “Receipts, proofs of purchase, even packaging,” Dormer says. “Sometimes you may think packaging and receipts don’t really matter, but if you look closely, they may tell you where the product came from and maybe how it got there. That can be very important.”

Who Can Sue for Product Liability?

Anyone who would be foreseeably affected by the defective product can bring a product liability lawsuit.

“Say there’s a person working in a factory and [there’s no guard on the machine they’re operating],” says Epstein. “The person’s hand gets stuck in the machine, resulting in lost fingers or a hand. In that situation, the worker was never going to purchase the factory machinery, but they suffered injuries from a defective product and can sue.”

Statutes of Limitations in Product Liability Claims

Every state has a law called the statute of limitations that sets the deadline for filing a product liability lawsuit. In most states, the timeframe is between two and six years from when the injury occurred. Some states have longer timeframes, and a few have shorter ones.

Statutes of limitations are very important. If you miss the deadline, you can’t file a lawsuit. This means you will miss out on any compensation you might have gained through a lawsuit.

The clock to make a legal claim typically starts the moment your injury occurs. Of course, there are certain times when you may not know you’ve been injured — say, when a product is shown to cause cancer.

To ensure you don’t miss your state’s deadlines, speak with a product liability lawyer in your area.

Preparing for a Lawsuit with an Attorney

People injured by a defective or dangerous product should take the following steps following an accident:

• Get medical treatment
• Report the accident
• Document the evidence
• Get a lawyer

Stewart Eisenberg, a personal injury attorney in Philadelphia, says he looks for a number of things when a potential client comes to him. “We look for how the person was using the product, or how the product may have malfunctioned. We look at when the injury was,” he says.

“It has to be a serious injury, because defective product liability claims are difficult and expensive to handle. If there’s a misuse of the product — using it in a way that wasn’t intended — that’s a red flag,” he continues. “If the person is a professional and knows about the risk of a product, and gets injured, that’s a red flag.”

Find a Product Liability Attorney

Many product liability attorneys provide free consultations to learn about your case. These consultations include legal advice and help you decide if the attorney or law firm meets your needs.

Look for a product liability attorney in the Super Lawyers directory for help with your product liability case.