Did you know that dangerous prescription drugs, dysfunctional medical devices or consumer products are at the root of thousands of lawsuits on a yearly basis? As a consumer of all these products, you should be able to rely on your specialized accident attorney for legal help. But a bit of information can also help you find the right legal assistance, so below you can find a few essential product liability questions answered.

What is a product liability claim?

If you or someone in your family have been injured or suffered material or personal damages because of a purchased product, you may be able to file a lawsuit to recover for your injuries and damages. In legal terms, this is called a defective product liability claim.

What do these claims imply and are there more product liability claim types?

There are multiple aspects related to these claims but in general they are easily grouped into three categories.

a)       Products that have been poorly manufactured in the factory or have suffered a defect between the place of creation and the place of purchase.

b)      Products that have been unsatisfactorily designed. In this case the actual manufacturing process may have been correct, but the design, the blueprint used to create it was flawed. In general, these cases call for a group or larger suit, as a single faulty product is not involved, but rather an entire line of products that are claimed to be dangerous.

c)       Products that did not come with adequate warnings or instructions regarding their proper use. These legal claims are often called defective marketing claims.

Who is liable if a person was injured by a defective product?

As your specialized accidents attorney will tell, in such cases you will basically include all parties that are involved in the distribution chain- from the designer to the manufacturer and the retailer/ supplier.

Of course, depending on the actual case, you can also include designers, contractors and quality control providers in this group. These are normally liable in case of defective products in the construction business.

How can you prove guilt in a product liability suit?

Again, here, circumstances are extremely important and you cannot win such a lawsuit unless you can prove that a number of elements have been met:

1)      You have to prove injury or damage

2)      You have to prove the product was defective or that it lacked proper instructions

3)      You have to connect the product’s defect to your injury

4)      You have to prove that at the time of the accident, you were using the product.

How long do I have to file?

This largely depends on every state’s statue of limitations. This actually varies from one state to another, so you will need to immediately contact an accidents attorney; to make sure you have a chance of winning the case.