Attorney's HelpLine

Theories of Liability

Product liability law holds manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and retailers of products for sale to the public responsible for injuries they cause. In American law, the most common claims of product liability are for breach of warranty and negligence and under strict liability and consumer protection statutes:

• Warranties are representations or statements about products during commercial transactions. Warranty claims require privity or direct dealing between the claimant and the manufacturer or marketer. Warranty-based product liability claims can be for breach of express or implied warranties.
• Negligence claims focus on a duty owed the claimant and a breach of that duty as proximate cause of the claimant's actual quantifiable injury. Once limited to parties in privity with the seller, the duty of reasonable care now extends to all who foreseeably may be injured by the product.
• Under strict liability, the manufacturer or seller is liable if the product is defective or inherently harmful even if no merchant was negligent in manufacturing or marketing the product.
• Consumer protection statutory remedies are for defects that make products unusable but do not cause personal injury or damage to other property. The best known consumer protection laws for product defects are motor vehicle lemon laws.
• These theories of liability make proof of product liability claims complex and difficult. In cases involving pharmaceutical and medical devices, for example, many claims cannot prevail without expert testimony.

Pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers have rushed to bring new products to the market without adequate safety testing. Their negligence can cause injuries costly to those who suffer side effects often more harmful than the conditions they treat.

Product Liability Practitioners

Product liability law requires prescription drug and medical device manufacturers to make sure their products are safe, to market them for approved purposes only, and to warn consumers and their physicians of any known dangers. If the manufacturer or marketer neglects any of these duties, a consumer injured by the product should consult a skilled, experienced product liability attorney without delay. Product liability attorneys help claimants injured by dangerous and defective products. They can evaluate claims and gauge how much in compensatory damages may be recoverable.

The product liability attorney can help the claimant decide where to file and how to handle the entire process of building a case of reliable and probative evidence for full and fair compensation. If there are many claimants injured by the same product, the attorney can discover whether a class action lawsuit is pending and advise the client claimant whether to join it or to proceed as an individual.

Settlement Negotiations

Manufacturers and marketers sometimes agree to settle lawsuits rather than litigate them but only after strenuous negotiations. Here the services of the product liability attorney familiar with and prepared to counter their tactics are invaluable. Masters of deceit and delay when up against unassisted, unrepresented claimants negotiating on their own, insurance adjusters and their attorneys are always quicker to settle and more generous in their settlement terms when product liability attorneys are there for the claimants.

Litigation

Product liability attorneys comfortable and confident in the courtroom know how to present a case in the way that best demonstrates how a prescription drug, medical device, or any dangerous or defective product has damaged claimant lives. With deep knowledge of the law, they demonstrate how it applies to the salient facts so jurors understand fully how the defendant manufacturer or marketer is at fault and why they should return a verdict for the claimant plaintiff.

Many product liability attorneys offer free initial case consultations and retainer agreements providing for contingency fees, by which there is no fee chargeable to the claimant client unless and until there is a settlement payment or an award of damages.

Do you need a product liability lawyer? Visit DanknerMilstein.com  to get a free consultation for your case.

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