Dangerous or Defective Product and Product Warning LAWYERS

Serving Olympia, Tacoma and Western Washington

Product Liability

People should be able to trust that the products they use are safe whenever the product is used to do what it was designed to do. Unfortunately, consumers are often injured by the products they use every day. Automobile seat belts fail, gas tanks explode and car roofs crush — failing to protect occupants. Defectively designed machinery and power tools cause injuries to workers injuries. Toys injure and kill children. Even household products have design or manufacturing defects that cause injury or death. Almost any product can be defective. The list of potentially defective products is very long.

Product Liability Law

A “product liability claim” includes any claim or action brought for harm caused by the manufacture, production, making, construction, fabrication, design, formula, preparation, assembly, installation, testing, warnings, instructions, marketing, packaging, storage or labeling of the relevant product. Product liability law holds designers, manufacturers and some suppliers liable for injuries to consumers caused by defects and hazards in the products they market or in the failure to put adequate warnings on their products. Product manufacturers include any entity that designs, produces, makes, fabricates, constructs, or remanufactures the relevant product or component of a product before its sale to a user or consumer. Products liability law transfer the costs of injuries and death resulting from defective products to the companies that sold them in the market place.

Products are not reasonably safe as designed, if, at the time of manufacture, the likelihood that the product would cause the injured person’s harm, and the seriousness of those harms, outweighed the burden on the manufacturer to design a product that would have prevented those harms when an alternative design was practical and feasible and would have increased the usefulness or safety of the product.

A product is not reasonably safe because adequate warnings or instructions were not provided with the product, if, at the time of manufacture, the likelihood that the product would cause the claimant’s harm or similar harms, and the seriousness of those harms, rendered the warnings or instructions of the manufacturer inadequate and the manufacturer could have provided the warnings or instructions which the claimant alleges would have been adequate.

Product manufacturers are subject to strict liability to an injured person if the person’s harm was proximately caused by the fact that the product was not reasonably safe in construction or not reasonably safe because it did not conform to the manufacturer’s express warranty or to the implied warranties under the Uniform Commercial Code, Title 62A RCW.

A products liability suit may also be based on a breach of warranty. This type of liability is based upon contract law. In sales contracts there are express and implied warranties. When these warranties are breached, an injured party may recover damages resulting from the breach. Disclaimers are often included in sales contracts and on the fine print of labels and documents included with the product.

Under strict products liability, however, it is not usually necessary to show that the manufacturer or seller was negligent or breached a warranty in order to recover damages for injuries sustained from a defective product. Washington is a leader in strict product liability law. Strict liability does not require proof of fault on behalf of the designer, manufacturer or seller. In a strict liability claim, the injured party need only show that: 1) the product was defective, 2) the defect existed prior to the manufacturer releasing the product, and 3) the defect caused the victim’s damages.

The injured party may prove that a product is defective from any of three types of defects: design defects, manufacturing defects and “failure to warn” defects. Design defects arise during the product design phase, or before the product is manufactured. In this situation, every product of that model or type is usually defective. A product has a design defect if a foreseeable risk of harm could have been reduced or eliminated by using another feasible design and the failure to use this alternative design caused the product to be unsafe. A manufacturing defect exists if there are mistakes or problems during the production phase of a product. Many of the products which come off the assembly line may be safe, but other products come off the same assembly line with a defect. The manufacturer may be held liable for failing to detect the defect before the product reaches the consumer. The third type of case is a defect which is caused by a failure to warn of a product danger. These cases typically involve a product which may be safe if used in one manner, but unsafe if used in another foreseeable manner. Product should include clear, visible, and simple warnings explaining the danger. If the product lacks a reasonable warning, the product is defective.

If You Have Been Injured by a Defective Product

If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective product, you should keep the product and any packaging, instructions, and labels. You should take pictures. This evidence is important in proving your case. Defective product cases can be complex and expensive. Dedicated to helping seriously injured people and families who have lost loved ones, the lawyers at Ron Meyers & Associates have the skill, experience and resources to go up against even the biggest billion dollar corporations and their billion dollar insurance companies to get full and fair compensation for our injured clients. Our personal injury attorneys are willing to fight tirelessly on our clients’ behalf. Ron Meyers & Associates lawyers have an established track record for obtaining full value for our clients, obtaining millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements, including some landmark cases that have influenced personal injury and product liability litigation across Washington state. We have successfully litigated cases against some of the largest corporations in the world. If you need an immediate consultation on a defective or hazardous product case, please call a product liability lawyer at Ron Meyers & Associates at 360-459-5600, toll free at 1-877-2111, or use our case evaluation form on this web site.