How Can I Prove Product Liability?
August 10, 2020 | Accidents,Personal Injury
No one should ever have to worry about whether or not an item they purchase will cause harm to themselves or their families. Unfortunately, defective products make it into the hands of consumers every day across the country. If you or somebody you care about has been injured or become ill due to a defective product, you should be able to secure compensation for what has happened. Unfortunately, proving a product liability case is incredibly difficult. It is strongly advised that you seek assistance from a Seattle product liability attorney for help with your case soon after you sustain an injury. Here, we want to review some of the elements necessary to prove liability in a product liability case.
What elements need to be present for a product liability case?
While the particulars of product liability cases will vary from state to state, you would generally find that there are four elements that need to be proven in order for a defective product case to be successful.
- You were injured or suffered losses.
- The product was indeed defective.
- The defect was responsible for your injuries.
- You were using the product as it was intended to be used.
Proving a person suffered injuries or became ill may not be difficult. The difficulty lies with proving that the product was responsible for the injuries or illness. There are generally three ways in which products become defective:
- A design flaw that escapes initial product testing or is ignored by the manufacturers.
- A manufacturing error in which a well-designed product becomes faulty somewhere in the manufacturing process.
- A marketing or label problem that misleads consumers. This can include incomplete instructions, missing ingredients, the product label not having adequate warnings, and more.
If it is determined that the product was indeed defective, it needs to be shown that the injury victim sustained their injury while using the defective product and that the injury was a direct result of the defect itself.
Finally, a person must have been using the product in the way that the manufacturer intended it to be used. For example, if a person was using an electronic product inside the bathtub, and there are clear warnings about not using the product near water, it is unlikely that injury victim will be able to secure compensation for any injuries they sustained if the product fell in the water and electrocuted them.
Working with an attorney for a product liability case
Unfortunately, most individuals do not have the resources necessary to conduct a full investigation into their defective product case. However, a Washington product liability attorney can:
- Obtain all evidence necessary to prove liability, including photos or video surveillance of the incident, company or manufacturer reports on the product, evidence of previous problems with that product, and more.
- Work with trusted medical professionals to evaluate the client in order to help calculate total expected losses.
- Negotiate with every party involved in an effort to reach a fair settlement, or prepare the case to go to trial if necessary to obtain maximum compensation.
You should never try to take on companies, manufacturers, or insurance carriers on your own in a product liability case. A skilled personal injury attorney in Seattle is going to be your lifeline to securing the compensation you need to make a full recovery.