Call the Best Los Angeles Product Liability Lawyer
Product liability is an area of law that is designed to allow those who have been injured or damaged by a defective product to seek compensation. California law provides that the manufacturer of any product can be held liable when that product is defective and causes harm to someone during ordinary use.
Any product that is put into the stream of commerce is covered under the law. A defective product can be an entire unit (like an automobile) or a component part (like a brake assembly). If you or a loved one has been injured, or a loved one killed by a defective product, you should contact a products liability attorney as soon as possible.
At The Trial Law Offices of Bradley I. Kramer, M.D., Esq., our experienced product liability attorneys will aggressively fight to protect your rights and secure the compensation that you are entitled to under the law.
Types of Product Liability Court Cases
In products liability law, there are three types of defects:
Defective Design
This consists of defects in the design of the product before it is made. The whole product line or every product from a certain model is dangerously defective. For example, the airframe design of a certain model aircraft might be more susceptible to stress during take off and landing.
Manufacturing Defect
This type of defect occurs when the manufacturer fails to produce or assemble the product correctly. This means that the design might be sound, but one or more of the finished products has a defect that makes it substandard.
Marketing Defect
The manufacturer of a product must clearly warn of any dangers associated with the use of the product, and must also provide sufficient instructions for its safe operation.
Who is Liable in Product Liability Claims?
When a defective product causes injury there are several potential responsible parties that can be sued to recover damages. These might include:
- The manufacturer of the product (or the manufacturer of a component part of the product)
- The wholesaler of the product
- The retail store that sold the product to the consumer
- Anyone who assembled or installed the product
For the seller to be liable, the product must be sold in the seller’s regular course of business. For example, someone who sold a defective product at a private garage sale would not be liable. The purchaser of the product is not the only party that can file a damage claim. Any person who could be forseeably injured by a defective product can recover compensation for their injuries.
Strict Liability
The term “Strict liability” means that an injured plaintiff does not have to prove negligence or fault on the part of the manufacturer. If it can be shown that the product was defective and caused injury, the manufacturer can be held strictly liable. The injured plaintiff must prove three things:
- That the product was defective when it left the manufacture or seller’s control,
- That the product was used by the injured party in its intended manner, and
- That the use of the product caused the injury
What Damages are Recoverable in a Products Liability cases?
Damage awards are intended to compensate for all the expenses and ailments caused by the injury. Damages can include any of the following:
- Medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
- Lost wages
- Future earning capacity
- Future medical expenses
- Mental anguish
- Loss of consortium (spouses may make this claim for loss of companionship and sexual relations)
- Property damage
- Funeral and burial expenses (in the case of wrongful death)
California Product Liability Lawyer
If an unsafe or defective product has injured you or a loved one, you should contact a dangerous products attorney as soon as possible. At The Trial Law Offices of Bradley I. Kramer, M.D., Esq., our experienced product liability attorneys will help you through this legal ordeal.
Our principal attorney has the added expertise of being a California licensed physician and can use those skills to determine the extent of your product liability case and the amount of compensation that you deserve.