Product Liability & Defective Products
When you buy a product, you should be able to trust that what you purchase is safe when used as intended. That is because manufactureres and distributors have a legal obligation to make sure their products are safely designed and manufactured.
There are three basic types of product defects:
- A design flaw occurs even before the product is manufactured. One case handled by the firm was the design of a 3 wheeled, truck mounted forklift that tipped over, resulting in the operator having his foot amputated. The case involved the desgin of the operator's compartment, which exposed the operator's leg to serious injury during foreseeable accidents;
- The manufacturing process is when the majority of product defects occur. For example, screws or bolts may not be properly tightened, causing a part to ply off and injure or kill someone;
- A marketing defect arises from instructions, warning, or guidelines for using the product that are unclear, confusing, missing vital information, or even deliberately misleading.