The Three Types of Product Liability Suits

As a consumer, you may assume that the products you purchase are reasonably safe and will not cause you harm. Unfortunately, many manufacturing companies, distributors and retailers cut corners, violate federal safety laws and skip steps to save time or money, leading to dangerous products. If a company knowingly or carelessly fails to prevent a defective item from reaching consumers, the manufacturer may be legally responsible for related injuries through one of three types of product liability lawsuits.

Design Defect

A design defect is an issue with a product’s inherent design that makes it overly dangerous to consumers. A faulty design may have product details or specifications that ultimately lead to an item that presents hazards or risks. An example is a teapot that is designed using a material that is prone to cracking or breaking when hot. A teapot with this design defect could potentially crack with hot water inside of it, creating a reasonably foreseeable risk of consumer burn injuries.

To succeed with a product liability suit based on a defective design, you or your attorney must demonstrate that the product’s design is unreasonably dangerous. What is unreasonable depends on the circumstances. The courts typically assess these cases using the “consumer expectation test,” meaning it asks if the item failed to perform safely, as an ordinary customer would expect it to when used in the way that the manufacturer intended.

Manufacturing Defect

A manufacturing defect means that while the design of a product is reasonably safe, an error or mistake during the item’s production, assembly or manufacture led to a defect that made the product dangerous. During the construction of the item, workers or the factory might not have adhered to the correct specifications or safety protocols, leading to a defect that makes the item present an unreasonably high risk of foreseeable injuries.

An example is a piece of machinery that breaks off during production and falls into a batch of trail mix. In this case, all bags of trail mix impacted by the manufacturing issue would be defective, as they may contain dangerous pieces of metal. When there is a manufacturing defect, all products are typically not dangerous; instead, the defect will only impact the items that were affected by the manufacturing mistake.

Marketing Defect

A marketing defect describes an error in how the item was marketed, described or packaged. Manufacturers and distributors have a legal responsibility to package items in a way that will reduce the risk of consumer injuries. This includes clear and correct labeling, instructions and warnings. For example, a children’s toy manufacturer is obligated to include a suitable age range on toy packaging. Failing to do so could lead to an infant choking on small pieces and the manufacturing company being liable for injuries.

How to File a Product Liability Suit in Texas

If the product that injured you or a loved one contained one of these three types of defects, you will most likely have grounds for a strict product liability claim. This type of claim does not require you to prove that the manufacturing company was negligent or careless. Instead, your lawyer simply must prove that the item contained one of these three types of defects and that it injured you.

If you do not have grounds for a strict liability claim, you or your lawyer may have to prove negligence or a breach of warranty to recover compensation. Negligence is the failure to meet the accepted level of care, resulting in injuries to others. A breach of warranty is the failure to fulfill a promise given to customers, such as a guarantee that the item is safe.

For more information about your particular product liability lawsuit, contact a product liability attorney in Houston today.