Every year, millions of Americans suffer unexpected injuries due to defective products. Defective products are those that are unreasonably dangerous in a way a consumer could not anticipate.
If a manufacturer offers a product for sale, they have a responsibility to ensure the item is safe for consumer use. Unfortunately, many manufacturers put profits over people and do not engage in sufficient research or quality control to ensure their products’ safety.
A Portland defective products lawyer could pursue compensation from a manufacturer on your behalf for damages or losses you suffered due to a product flaw. Consult a skilled injury attorney to discuss the legal options available in your specific situation.
Defective Products That Could Cause Injury
The average American typically uses hundreds of products every day, and any of those products might cause injury due to unexpected behavior. Under product liability law, a manufacturer could be held liable if a consumer can prove that a product defect caused them harm.
A skilled Portland attorney could handle cases involving a range of defective products, including:
- Household appliances
- Fixtures such as boilers, water heaters, and HVAC systems
- Furniture
- Clothing
- Toys
- Sports equipment
- Personal care products
- Motor vehicles, including cars, trucks, snowmobiles, watercraft, and all-terrain vehicles
Virtually any product might form the basis of a product liability lawsuit if someone suffered an injury by using it.
Proving a Product Is Defective
In most personal injury cases, the claimant must prove that someone else’s negligence caused their injury. However, in a product liability case, a Portland attorney only needs to establish that a product was defective. A legal professional must present evidence demonstrating the product had a flaw in its design, production, or label. An attorney does not need to show that the manufacturer knew about the flaw, only that it existed and lead to an injury.
Proving a flawed design requires the claimant to show that the manufacturer could have prevented their injury by using a different, economically feasible design. A claimant and their lawyer could show a manufacturing defect by proving a production error caused the product to deviate from the norm and, in turn, cause injuries. Proving a defective label requires the claimant to show that the warnings, instructions, or explanatory materials were inadequate to prevent the claimant’s injury.
Implied Warranty of Fitness
Maine Revised Statutes §2-314 requires that all goods sold in the state come with an implied warranty of fitness for their intended use. If an individual was using a product as intended and it malfunctioned and caused damage, they could assert that the manufacturer violated the implied warranty of fitness.
Holding Manufacturers Liable for Damages
The losses that an individual suffers from a defective product are called “damages.” Damages can be economic and non-economic in nature.
Documentable losses like medical costs and lost wages are examples of economic damages. Future anticipated losses like injury-related medical treatment and diminished earning capacity are also economic losses. These damages also include the costs of seeking treatment such as travel and parking, expenses to accommodate an injury like prostheses or home renovation, and the value of household services the injured person can no longer perform.
Non-economic damages provide compensation to acknowledge the intangible losses that accompany injuries. Non-economic damages might include sums for disfigurement, emotional anguish, disability, physical pain, lost ability to participate in favored activities or hobbies, and other factors that diminish the injured person’s quality of life. A skilled defective products lawyer in Portland could pursue fair compensation from the negligent manufacturer that covers the full extent of a claimant’s economic and non-economic damages.
Get in Touch with a Portland Defective Products Attorney
Seeking legal action against a corporate manufacturer may seem intimidating, but a Portland defective products lawyer can help. An experienced attorney can fight for you until the company that profited at your expense pays you the compensation you deserve.
Get justice for your injuries now. Schedule a case review today.