Your Law Firm - Defective Products

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The manufacturer of a product has a duty to produce a product free of defects. A defect in a product may be:

a broken or missing part that can be repaired
a fault making the product unsuitable for the purpose for which it was purchased, or which makes the product unreasonably dangerous

Liability for defective products is governed by the law of products liability, which combines elements of the law of contracts and of the law of personal injury.

Breach of Warranty

Generally, under the law of contracts, the law imposes certain warranties (guarantees) on the sale of goods. Such warranties include:

the warranty of merchantability; that the goods are in proper condition for use and free of defects
the warranty of fitness for a particular purpose (e.g., the lawnmower must be able to mow grass, the stove must be able to cook food)

These warranties are called implied warranties because the law assumes that they apply even if they are not expressly stated. Additionally, if the seller or manufacturer makes a specific representation to a purchaser concerning the quality or function of goods ("this lawnmower will last for 10 years" or "this stove will heat food to 500 degrees") the seller or manufacturer can be held to these express warranties.

If a product does not meet these standards, the purchaser may have the right to return it and get back the purchase price, or sometimes to receive monetary damages. The law of contracts covers economic loss caused by the breach of warranties in the sale of goods.

Defective Products

If a defect in a product or breach of an express or implied warranty causes personal injury, the injured person may be able to bring a lawsuit against the manufacturer, the seller, or anyone else in the "chain of distribution" for damages resulting from the injury. The law of personal injury covers this type of injury.

A product may be "defective" under the law of product liability in a number of ways:
A product may be made poorly (the wheels fall off a brand new car as it is driven down the highway).
A product may work perfectly for its purpose (the stove cooks food well) but be designed in such a way that an injury may occur if it is used normally (the burner on the stove is unusually small, causing a normal-sized pot to tip easily).
A product may also be safe if used carefully, but it may be considered defective if the manufacturer has failed to supply information on how to use it, or warnings about the consequences of certain kinds of use. (For example, if the oven is placed too near a wall, it may cause a fire).
A product may also be defective if there is a misrepresentation concerning the product, resulting in an injury.

Certain types of products may be considered unavoidably unsafe such as certain medical drugs. There are many drugs used in the treatment of serious and fatal diseases which themselves may cause serious injury and sometimes death. Although these products may be clearly "dangerous," they may not be considered "unreasonably dangerous" if proper information and warnings are given to users.

A user injured by an allegedly defective product may not be able to recover damages if it is shown that the user misused the product. Manufacturers are expected to recognize that some types of misuse by users of their products is "foreseeable", and thus the products are expected to be designed to avoid this misuse. For example, a lawnmower may have a "deadman" switch preventing users from unclogging the mower while it is running. If the kind of misuse is not foreseeable (using a lawnmower as a ceiling fan), the misuse may prevent the injured user from recovering from the manufacturer.

Because product liability lawsuits span the areas of contract law and tort law, the rules applying to product liability lawsuits can sometimes be inconsistent and confusing. Statutes of limitations on this claims can also be as short as 2 years from the initial date of injury.

Your Law Firm represents persons who have been injured by defective products and will pursue and preserve your rights to compensation and other benefits. Please call for free consultation.