When Can a Defective Product Manufacturer Be Held Liable?

If a product that you used as intended has caused you a serious injury, the manufacturer could be responsible. The best way to know if you have a case and can hold them liable is to talk with a product liability lawyer here in Las Cruces, NM.

When Can a Defective Product Manufacturer Be Held Liable?

Manufacturers can face liability under several legal approaches, but strict liability is the most common path for these claims. With strict liability, you don’t need to show that the company acted carelessly or even knew about the problem: you simply have to prove that the product was defective and that the defect caused your harm. There are three main types of defects that you can bring an action over:

• Manufacturing
• Design
• Inadequate warning

Manufacturing Defect

This happens when something goes wrong during production, and the unit you bought (or a small batch of units out of a larger production run) differs from the rest of the batch and is unreasonably dangerous. For example, if there’s a big production run of power tools, and an issue along the way caused a small number of them to have a cracked housing that was not caught on the assembly line, this would be a manufacturing defect.

Design Defect

A design defect is different. Here the entire line of products carries the same flaw because the problem is actually baked into the blueprint. There’s nothing wrong with the way they were made; there were no mistakes during production. The issue is the design itself. For example, if you’ve got a child’s car seat that collapses in certain types of crashes where the angles of impact are just right, the courts may find that the design itself was defective, even if every seat was built correctly.

Inadequate Warnings

A product may be perfectly safe when used properly, but if the maker doesn’t tell users about hidden risks or how to avoid them, they can be held liable. This covers anything from missing labels on chemicals that shouldn’t come in contact with your skin to unclear instructions about assembly for a ladder that tips easily if it’s put together wrong. The warning must be clear, prominent, and reach the people who will actually use the item.

Other Avenues to Hold Manufacturers Accountable

Negligence is another route to liability, but it requires more proof. You would need to show that the manufacturer failed to use reasonable care in designing, testing, or inspecting the product. If strict liability does not apply, or when additional damages are available, this could be what your lawyer will recommend. 

Breach of warranty is another way to prove liability, if the product came with promises about safety or performance that it failed to meet. Most claims, however, rely on strict liability because it removes the need to dig into the company’s internal decision-making.

Call a Product Liability Lawyer in Las Cruces, NM 

If you have been hurt by a defective product, contact the Labinoti Law Firm in Las Cruces, NM today for a free consultation. We also serve clients in the Carlsbad area and in El Paso, TX. 

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