What is Product Liability and How it Works
Product liability is the law that deals with manufacturers and traders for producing or selling faulty products. An average human being uses hundreds of products in a single day, starting from the bedside alarm clock, toothbrush, toaster, clothes, your vehicle, and many more.
These products are mass-produced, and the probability of these being defective is high, and they can cause damage to your property or/and physical injury. In worst cases, it can also result in death. For this reason, manufacturers or sellers are liable for the injuries that occur to the ordinary consumer by a defective product.
Who Is Responsible if a Product causes injury or damage
The responsibility lies with the product’s chain of distribution. It usually consists of:
- Manufacturer of the Product
- Component Suppliers
- Assembler/Installer of these components on the product
- Wholesaler of the product
- Retail store where the product was sold to the consumer
Anyone from this list can be responsible for the defect in the product. The plaintiff will have to prove the defect in the product due to negligence by one of these. If a plaintiff files a case of strict liability, they do not need to prove that a manufacturer was negligent, but only that the product was faulty.
Types of Liability Claims
● Manufacturing Defects
The manufacturing of products requires a standardized process. The quality and quality of a product are an important part of this process. If any of the two are not up to mark, then the final product will be of low quality and might be defective. Such a product does not conform with the standards of the intended design; this is known as a manufacturing defect.
● Design Defects
When a product is being designed, its usability in the real world is kept in mind. If the design is flawed, it might result in reliability issues when the product enters the market. In this kind of liability claim, the plaintiff contends that the product is defective in design and shouldn’t have been sold because the product design’s risks outweigh its benefits.
● Marketing Defects
Regardless of how well a product is designed, it can still have some flaws that can malfunction and be mitigated by providing necessary warnings and information to a customer. Failure to do so can result in an accident because the customer was not provided the relevant instructions.
Associated claims with product liability
Breach of warranty based product liability claims are filed when a product does not meet the certain level of quality and reliability that was guaranteed by the seller. These warranties are required to be written in plain language.
Negligence claims are filed when a defendant breaches a duty owed to the plaintiff, resulting in injury to the plaintiff. Strict liability cases focus on the product instead of the negligence of the manufacturer. Thus, the manufacturer is liable even if they were not negligent in the manufacturing of the product.
Want to file a product liability claim
If you have suffered injuries due to a defective product and need help filing a liability claim, you should contact a professional product liability lawyer. The laws vary from state to state, and you should know that product liability claims are extremely complex. Therefore, you should contact a product liability attorney in wyoming for consultation regarding your claim.
