Product Liability Lawyer
Every day, people are injured by dangerous or defective products. Douglas & London works to hold manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and vendors accountable.
Douglas & London has years of experience dealing with products liability cases, from airbags and table saws to fences and cigarettes, in New York, NY, and nationwide. Our focus in these types of cases is three-fold:
- To help protect consumers from dangerous products
- To hold manufacturers, distributors and retailers responsible for putting into the marketplace products that they knew or should have known were dangerous or defective
- To assist our clients in achieving compensation for injuries that were of no fault of their own
Understanding Product Liability
In the United States, the claims most commonly associated with product liability are negligence, strict liability, breach of warranty and consumer protection plans. Most product liability laws are determined at the state level and vary widely from state to state.
Product Liability Negligence
A basic negligence claim consists of proof of: (1) a duty owed, (2) a breach of that duty, (3) an injury and (4) that the breach proximately caused the plaintiff’s injury.
Strict Liability
Strict liability claims focus on the product itself rather than the behavior of the manufacturer (as in negligence). The manufacturer is liable if the product is defective, even if the manufacturer was not negligent in making that product defective. Common examples of strict liability include:
Design Defect
Faulty product design poses a threat and causes an injury.
Failure to warn/marketing defect
The product does not have proper warning labels or clear instructions informing consumers of safety hazards, which results in physical injuries.
Manufacturing Defect
A defect in the product occurring during manufacturing results in serious physical injuries.
Breach of Warranty
Breach of warranty-based product liability claims usually focus on one of three types: (1) breach of an express warranty, (2) breach of an implied warranty of merchantability or (3) breach of an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.
Consumer Protection
Many states have enacted consumer protection statutes for defects which merely render the product unusable, causing economic loss, but not physical injury or damage to other property.
If you have any questions about a possible products liability lawsuit, please don’t hesitate to call one of our product liability lawyer’s in New York for a free case evaluation.
