If you were injured by a product while using it according to safety guidelines, it is important that you identify where the negligence occurred so as to hold the correct party liable. Continue reading to understand what grounds you have for a product liability claim and how an experienced Morris County personal injury attorney at Lutz Injury Law can help you fight for justice.
What is product liability in the state of New Jersey?
Companies have a duty to ensure that their products are safe for their consumers to use. So when they fail at this duty and create a defective product, a product liability lawsuit can be the consequence. While product liability issues can happen with anything, they are most commonly found with children’s toys, appliances, and motor vehicles, among others.
Who is liable for my product injury?
There are three different types of product defects that someone can be held responsible for in a product liability case. They read as follows:
- Design defect: this occurs when the product designer fails to take proper safety precautions when designing a product, which then results in injury.
- For your claim: you must prove that there was a safer, equally practical, and economically feasible design option that would not have hindered the product’s usability.
- Manufacturing defect: this occurs when the product was safely designed but the manufacturer strayed away from the initial plans, which resulted in an unsafe product.
- For your claim: you must prove that there was a deviation in design guidelines to cut corners that ultimately made the product become unsafe.
- Failure to warn: this occurs when the product was designed and manufactured safely, but the company failed to create labels and warnings on how to safely use the product.
- For your claim: you must prove that labels and warnings were not present to prevent the accident.
What should I do if I receive a product injury?
Although it may be your immediate instinct to throw away the defective product, it can be a key component to a successful product liability claim. At the very least, you should collect photos of the product, the packaging, and the damage it inflicted on you.
And lastly, you will want to retain the services of a skilled New Jersey personal injury attorney as soon as you can. We will help you kickstart the legal process, satisfy your burden of proof, and overall fight for the financial compensation that you are rightfully entitled to.
CONTACT OUR MORRIS COUNTY FIRM
If you have been the victim of the negligence of another in an accident, please contact a qualified New Jersey personal injury attorney at Lutz Injury Law as quickly as possible following the subject accident.