People depend on a variety of products daily to keep their lives moving forward. Sometimes, those products can be defective and lead to injury. When that happens, the fallout can be devastating for everyone involved.
Victims may be entitled to compensation in cases where faulty products cause harm. However, it’s good for everyone to understand what hidden dangers lurk in consumer products, who is liable for injuries that result from defective products, and what you should do if you’ve been injured.
Who Is Liable for Defective Products?
The biggest question on anyone’s mind that defective products have injured is who is responsible for their injuries. In Florida, three different categories determine who should pay for your injuries.
Product Design
If a product with a defect in its original design hurts you, it never had a chance of being safe. Even manufactured correctly according to its specifications, it was a dangerous product from its inception and will not perform safely or keep the customer safe in the way they expect, making them very dangerous to consumers.
Some examples of products with flawed designs that can injure a person include toys that are too small and are a choking hazard to kids, kitchen appliances that electrocute those who use them or steering wheels of cars that lock while driving. In these cases, the product designer may be responsible for injuries caused by its defective design.
Failure to Warn
In instances where products are designed and manufactured correctly, there are inadequate warnings about the dangers of their use – or no warnings at all. Also known as marketing defects, these products lack information to ensure they are safe such as plastic bags that can suffocate a person, furniture that can fall if not appropriately affixed to the wall, or chemicals that lack safe handling instructions.
Manufacturing Defects
A product has a manufacturing defect when designed correctly but incorrectly, which can lead to dangerous situations. Examples include incorrectly assembled furniture, malfunctioning safety locks on car seats, or medication that has become contaminated.
What Should You Do?
If you are injured by a product you believe to be defective, then it’s a good idea to take your concerns to a product liability attorney as soon as possible. They can help determine if your injuries result from a defective product and who may be responsible.
Under Florida law, you must file a defective product or product liability claim within four years of the day you were injured or two years if a defective product killed someone and you want to sue for their wrongful death. There may be exceptions to these time limits, but it’s best to consult with an attorney as soon as possible so that the statute of limitations does not run out on you.
An attorney can help you to recover compensation for things such as
- Loss of income
- Medical bills
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional trauma
- Disfigurement or scarring
- Loss of companionship, enjoyment of life, society, or consortium
Your attorney can further advise you on the types of compensation you can expect to receive.
About the Author:
Andrew Winston is a partner at the personal injury law firm Winston Law. For over 20 years, he has successfully represented countless people in all personal injury cases, focusing on child injury, legal malpractice, and premises liability. He has been recognized for excellence in representing injured clients by admission to the Million Dollar Advocates Forum and named one of America’s Top 100 High-Stakes Litigators. Mr. Winston is AV Preeminent Rated by the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, enjoys a 10.0 rating by AVVO as a Top Personal Injury Attorney, and has been selected as a Florida “SuperLawyer” from 2011-2022– an honor reserved for the top 5% of lawyers in the state – was voted to Florida Trend’s ”Legal Elite,” recognized by Expertise as one of the 20 Best Fort Lauderdale personal injury attorneys, named one of the Top 100 Lawyers in the Miami area for 2015-2022, and one of the Top 100 Lawyers in Florida for 2015-2017 and 2019-2022.
