Types of Defective Product Cases

Unfortunately, there are injuries that are the result of defective products. If you’ve suffered any of these injuries, you may have a valid defective product case. However, you first need to determine what type of case you have to make. 

In some cases, an injury can occur if a product doesn’t function the way that it’s supposed to. This is when the defect is due to the manufacturing of the product. Examples include using the wrong materials to manufacture a product, improperly wiring a product, or assembling a product incorrectly. These types of cases can be difficult to manage because you need to determine who the manufacturer was. Often, you will have to go through the supply chain to find the responsible party. There are also many defenses that they may use. Some may use the defense that you knew it was defective and used it anyway or you changed the product in some way. Understanding the defenses that can be used against you, can help you be successful in your own case. 

Unlike manufacturing defects, design defect cases focus on the concept and design of a product rather than how it was made. Typically, these cases will point out flaws in the design that make the product dangerous for customers to use. In these cases, you will need to show that there is a error in the design that can’t be attributed to user error. Often, your case can be made more convincing if you offer an alternative design that could have been used. For example, if a handguard on a power tool has large gaps in it, you could show how a more effective handguard could have been designed. 

Not all products are going to be absolutely safe. Sometimes there is risk to using certain products. Continuing with the power tools example, there are obvious risks to using this type of tool and it could lead to injury. In these cases, the company needs to make sure their product includes obvious warning labels. Otherwise, they could be sued for defective labeling. These labels need to point out hazards if the product is used improperly or even hazards that could occur during proper use. 

Not every defective product injury case is the same. Determine what type of case you have and understand the best way to build your defense. Each type of case will benefit from a different approach. 

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