If a Florida resident is hurt by a defective product, product liability laws may allow the person to seek compensation from the responsible parties. This may include physical property and also refers to pets, gas and real estate.
Defendants in products liability cases can include any party or parties who manufactured or sold the product like a retail store, assembling manufacturer, producer of the component parts or wholesaler. Product liability cases usually appear in civil court and are considered common law. To win damages, one must show a product is defective. This means one must show that an item can cause harm, and the degree of care a defendant exercised usually does not matter.
While different jurisdictions exist, one must show that a product is defective due to design, manufacturing or marketing. Design flaws make an item unreasonably dangerous even when functioning correctly, but manufacturing defects happen during the construction or production of a product. Manufacturing defects can be found in some but not all of the same items. Marketing defects might mean that consumers were not adequately warned about the danger of a product or were given improper instructions.
Florida residents may suffer injuries after using or coming into contact with defective power tools, car parts or medical devices. When defective products cause injuries, one may be able to file a suit to recover lost expenses whether he or she owns the product or not. An attorney could be beneficial in a product liability case when collecting evidence and contacting experts. A plaintiff’s counsel may use accident reconstruction techniques, medical illustrations or computer animations to demonstrate the dangers of a product and show a defendant’s liability. Some cases may not go to trial if a fair settlement is offered and accepted.
Source: Cornell University Law School, “Products liability“, September 19, 2014
