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Product Liability
When you purchase a consumer product, you have the right to expect to be able to use it as directed without injury. Unfortunately, customers are injured by defective and faulty products every day.
From faulty wiring that catches on fire to a medical device that injures you, you can face significant problems when a manufacturer fails to properly design, manufacture, and provide warnings about their products.
If you or a loved one has been injured, you can hold the manufacturer accountable through a product liability lawsuit.
The product liability attorneys at Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers have helped clients recover multi-million-dollar settlements after being injured by dangerous products. We’re prepared to help you with your product liability case in Chicago.
What Constitutes a Product Defect?
When evaluating whether you can file a claim against a defective product, it is important to know what a product defect is legally. A product defect is anything that makes a product dangerous for its intended use. Generally, a consumer product can be deemed defective if an injury occurs while the consumer uses the product as it is designed and advertised to be used.
Common Types of Product Defects
The law recognizes three types of product defects:
Manufacturing Defects
A manufacturing defect occurs when a manufacturer makes a product incorrectly, creating a problem with the product and making it dangerous to customers. Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring the manufacturing process is followed correctly and the products they make are not inherently dangerous.
Manufacturing errors happen relatively often, but manufacturers have quality assurance processes in place to catch errors before they leave the factory. Failing to prevent errors in manufacturing or quality control can make the manufacturer liable for any damages their products cause.
The automotive industry is susceptible to manufacturing defects, which often cause product recalls. Our team can help you with:
Design Defects
A design defect occurs when a product design creates a product that is inherently and unintentionally dangerous to customers. Design errors can range from making a product out of a material too weak for its intended use to designing a product without taking into account potential safety hazards caused by the design.
For example, the Paragard IUD is facing litigation because of how it is designed.
Design can also include formulations. Some of the active ingredients used in products end up hurting people. Some prominent examples of this include:
Marketing Defects
This occurs when the company selling or advertising a product fails to provide adequate warnings regarding the product. A simple example of this is improper labeling. Failing to put the right warning labels on a product may lead a customer to use a product improperly or not take the proper safety precautions when using a product.
For example, wood stain has a different method for disposing of the rags used to apply it, and that method has to be printed on every can. Failing to do so means a customer may throw the rags away in a normal trash can, which can lead to a fire under the right conditions.
Companies go through a lot of effort to make sure the labels on products cover all of the important information required to use products safely. However, failing to do this may mean a company can be liable for failing to disclose required information.
Medical devices and prescription medications are a frequent target of class action lawsuits because of what marketers claim medications do and the potential side effects. This is why many commercials advertising medications have long lists of adverse effects as a way to disclose this information to you and to avoid potential liability.
A dangerous drug attorney or a defective medical device lawyer can help with such claims.
Common Injuries Caused by Defective Products
There are many serious injuries that can be caused by defective products, including:
- Burn injuries
- Head injuries
- Lacerations
- Choking
- Organ damage
- Electrocution
- Broken bones
- Eye injuries
- Internal injuries
- Crush injuries
- Wrongful death
Why You Need a Skilled Product Liability Lawyer
You could file a personal injury lawsuit on your own without the assistance of a Chicago product liability lawyer. However, it is advantageous to work with a lawyer when it comes to an injury caused by a faulty or defective product.
Corporations that manufacture consumer products have great financial means and teams of experienced lawyers on their side. It can be difficult, if not impossible, to secure maximum compensation without legal assistance.
Additionally, some unsafe products have hurt so many people they are the subject of class action lawsuits or multi-district litigation (MDLs). You will need the help of class action attorneys to know which class action lawsuit to join and the proper administrative process for filing your claim.
Proving Product Liability Claims
To prove product liability claims, your lawyer will need to show how the dangerous or defective product aligns with one or more of these basic theories of product liability.
Negligence
In a product liability lawsuit, negligence refers to a manufacturer’s failure to meet a standard of care in the design or manufacturing process. As a result, this design defect posed an unnecessary risk to consumer safety and the company that manufactured it should be held liable.
Breach of Contract or Warranty
To file a product liability lawsuit on the basis of a breach of contract or warranty, you need to prove the seller made a promise or offered a warranty as a part of the sale of the product. Then you need to show how they breached it.
For instance, perhaps the seller offered a 10-year warranty that it failed to honor. As a customer, you may have even decided to pay more for this specific product from this seller than buy from a competitor because of this contract or warranty.
Strict Liability
Under Illinois product liability laws, you can hold a product manufacturer responsible for a defective product simply because it is defective. The defendant’s intent doesn’t matter.
Potentially Liable Parties in Defective Product Claims
There are different parties who could potentially be held liable for your injuries in a product liability claim, including:
- Product designers
- Manufacturers
- Advertising and marketing companies
- Retailers
The Deadline to File a Product Liability Claim
Under Illinois law, the statute of limitations for personal injury law is two years from the date of the injury. You will not be able to file a product liability claim to seek compensation after this timeframe passes.
Some products do not fail or cause harm within this two-year period. For example, it takes years of exposure to talcum powder or Roundup herbicide to develop cancer. In these cases, the statute of limitations may apply differently.
It could be two years from when a reasonable person would have known or two years from the discovery. If one of these situations applies, it is a good idea to schedule a free review of your case with a law firm that understands Illinois product liability law well.
Financial Compensation Awarded in Product Liability Cases
There really isn’t a go-to settlement amount after an injury from a dangerous product. Sometimes, fairly similar cases yield differently-sized settlements.
Some factors are known to impact settlements. The extent of your injuries has a large impact on the expected size of your settlement. A serious injury that leaves you permanently disabled is going to get a larger settlement than a case where someone broke their arm but will fully recover.
How much money you’ve paid in medical expenses or missed out on lost wages will also factor into your settlement amount. If you’ve lost a significant amount of money, you can expect to recover more than product liability cases that do not involve as much economic damage.
Whether an insurance company is involved can make a difference. The vast majority of companies have substantial business liability insurance coverage.
However, if you are injured by dangerous products manufactured by a small company, there is a chance they will not have adequate insurance coverage to pay your claim, and you’ll be limited to the company and owner’s assets.
Hiring a law firm has also been shown to increase settlement size. Insurance companies tend to take litigation claims more seriously when injury victims hire legal representation. Plus, you can avoid any low offers the insurance provider may initially offer you.
Damages Our Chicago Product Liability Attorneys Can Help You Recover
Most product liability cases are eligible for two types of damages: economic and non-economic damages.
Economic Damages
Economic damages, such as medical bills, lost wages, rehabilitation costs, and property damage, relate directly to money you have paid or are expected to pay in the future related to your injury. For example, if a product defect caused you to lose your sight, you could recover money to pay for the surgeries and medical treatment you had, as well as the future treatment you’ll need going forward.
Non-Economic Damages
You can also recover non-economic damages, such as physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of life enjoyment. These are not tangible losses that correlate to a financial loss but are more subjective. A judge will use calculations to determine how much to award for these damages.
Wrongful Death
If your loved one died because of defective products, you could be entitled to file a wrongful death claim to recover compensation to pay their medical debt, funeral expenses, and your pain and suffering.
What to Do If You or a Loved One Have Been Injured by a Defective Product
If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective product, here are the steps that you should take:
- Seek medical attention – Go to the hospital or schedule a doctor’s appointment to get checked out. The medical records from these visits will be important evidence to support that an injury occurred.
- Document your injuries – Document your injuries and recovery using your smartphone, if possible.
- Contact Chicago product liability lawyers for a free consultation – Learn more about your legal options and the potential steps to move forward with a lawsuit against the at-fault party during a consultation with a lawyer.
Contact a Chicago Product Liability Attorney Today!
You can schedule a free consultation with a Chicago product liability lawyer from Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers today by filling out our contact form or calling toll-free at (888) 424-5757. Someone from our team is available 24 hours a day.
We work on a contingency fee basis. This means you don’t have to pay anything out of your pocket for our services. Instead, we take a small percentage of the settlement we help you win. If you don’t get paid, we don’t get paid. We have helped our clients win multi-million settlements and can help you as well.
Our downtown office, near the Richard J. Daley Center, Dirkson United States Courthouse, and the Chicago Workers’ Compensation Commission, offers convenient access from Aurora, Joliet, and Waukegan via I-90, I-94, and I-290.
Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers
225 W Wacker Dr #1660
Chicago, IL 60606
Phone: (847) 835-8895
We also serve clients from Champaign, Elgin, Peoria, Schaumburg and throughout Illinois.
All content undergoes thorough legal review by experienced attorneys, including Jonathan Rosenfeld. With 25 years of experience in personal injury law and over 100 years of combined legal expertise within our team, we ensure that every article is legally accurate, compliant, and reflects current legal standards.