North Dakota Defective Products Attorneys
There are many different types of products in the world. With so many different products being made every day, there are bound to be some flaws. Defective products can cause lots of problems, depending on what the defect is. These defects can cause everything from minor injuries to severe injuries. In some cases, defective products can even lead to wrongful death.
Manufacturing, Design, and Marketing Defects
Product defects can happen to any kind of product, from a large commercial vehicle to a small children’s toy. Manufacturing defects tend to be those that are recalled. Sometimes a piece breaks off too easily, or a portion of a car doesn’t work the proper way. Marketing defects look at incorrect or misleading marketing campaigns that could cause harm. If the design is defective or doesn’t work the way it was intended, it can cause problems and even potentially hurt someone. If you’re injured because of a defective product, you may be able to receive compensation for your injury.
Failure to Warn
When it comes to products, companies are required to warn the consumer if there are any potential risks that they could encounter while using the product. Failure to warn means that the manufacturer didn’t place any sort of warning on the label of the product, therefore offering no warning to the consumer. Think about if cigarettes didn’t have a warning on them or if a hair dryer’s packaging did not warn you of its dangerous interaction with water.
Failure to warn simply states that if there are any risks involved with using the product, they must be listed on the product or on some accompanying materials.
Warning Labels
In 2002, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) revised the standard guidelines for warning labels on products. This change made the warning labels easier to read, with a color coded system and easy to understand pictures. Warning labels have three levels:
- danger (red)
- warning (orange)
- and caution (yellow).
A product with a warning label that says “danger” could be hazardous and lead to death, while a “warning” label may contain a potentially hazardous condition that could lead to serious injury or death. The “caution” label states that the hazardous condition could end in moderate injury.
Defective Drugs
Defective drugs can include manufacturer defects, dangerous side effects, or drugs that were marketed in a misleading or dangerous way. Drugs that are defectively manufactured could be created by an error at the manufacturing facility, or by an error at the pharmacy. These defects could pertain to the ingredients, label errors, or any other mistakes that makes the medication dangerous.
Pharmaceutical drugs that have dangerous side effects that result in injury can also qualify as a dangerous medication. These may be new drugs or drugs that were on the market for a long time before the dangers were discovered.
Some drugs are known to be dangerous by the manufacturers but are left on the market for the sake of profits or because they believe they can get away with it. These drugs often cause injuries because of a failure by the manufacturer or distributor to provide adequate warnings or instructions.
Common Injuries from a Defective Product
Defective products can lead to literally almost injury or illness that you can think of. However, there are some common injuries that show up among defective product injury claims:
- Bruises
- Cuts
- Broken bones and fractures
- Burns
- Traumatic brain injuries and head trauma
- Choking
- Electrocution
- Organ failure
- Serious illness
- Wrongful death.
Types of Product Liability Lawsuits
Negligence
Negligence refers to an act of carelessness that causes an accident to occur, like a car accident or workplace injury. Negligence, in this situation, could refer to someone doing their job lazily and forgetting to put a warning label on something, or someone failing to run safety tests before releasing the product to the consumer. Failure to inspect the product and failing to foresee plausible uses for the product could also be considered negligence.
Strict Liability
In strict liability cases, the defendant is only required to state that the use of the product caused them some sort of harm. It doesn’t have to be because someone was acting with negligence. If the defect does exist, the manufacturer would be liable for any accidents that occurred because of it.
Who can be held liable?
There are many different parties that can be held liable in defective product cases. In some cases, the manufacturer will be the one that you end up suing. This may be the manufacturer of a specific part or the manufacturer of the entire product. When suing the manufacturer, it’s usually because the product is defective for some reason.
You can also sue the retailer that you purchased the product from. By having the product for sale, the retailer implies that it’s safe and suitable for use. Even though the retailer wasn’t involved in the making of the product, they still may be liable for carrying it.
However, there really is no limit on who may be liable for a defective product. Take for example a defective medication. It could be the fault of the manufacturers, the company who owns the drug, the pharmacy, or even the distributor. An experienced defective product lawyer can help you to understand your rights and options if you have been injured or made ill.
Contact an Attorney
If you or someone you love has been injured because of a defective product, the lawyers at Sand Law are ready and willing to take on your case. Defective product cases can be complicated and the companies can be aggressive, so hiring an experienced lawyer to help even the playing field can be very helpful. For more information, contact us online or call us at 701-609-1510