Your Defective Product Injury Lawyers
Your Christian Law Firm, Dean Burnetti Law represents Personal Injury Victims in Polk County, including: Lakeland, Auburndale, Bartow, Haines City, Lake Wales, Mulberry, Polk City, and Winter Haven; in Hillsborough County, including: Brandon, Tampa, and Plant City; in Pinellas County, including Clearwater, St. Pete, Gulfport, Treasure Island, Largo, Oldsmar; and all of the surrounding Greater Central Florida and West Central Florida Areas.
Jeremiah 30:17 - “‘But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,’ declares the Lord.”
Product designers and manufacturers are committed to uphold a safe standard for whatever product they create by the nation’s product liability laws, which hold them accountable, both legally and monetarily, to victims who have suffered as a result of a defective product.
Although defective products that cause injuries to the consumer are technically “personal injury” claims (with “personal injury claims” encompassing many types of injuries, from a driver who rear-ends your vehicle at a stop sign causing soft tissue damage to your neck and upper back to a your tipping on a poolside crack at a hotel and breaking your leg), they are actually more multifaceted because the manufacturers and/or engineers who design defective products (such as when a person purchases a ladder and the first time they climb on it, a rung loosens causing them to fall and injure themselves) are liable under a different set of legal theories.
A “defective product” is any product that malfunctions when being used for the purpose it was intended and in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. If the defective product causes an injury, then the product is considered to be “unreasonably dangerous.”
The different types of product defects that can cause injuries include marketing, manufacturing, and design flaws.
Marketing defects are when there is misinformation – or missing information – in the packaging and/or labeling of the product. In can include errors or omissions in the instruction pamphlet, on warning labels, or even on the box or packaging that originally housed the product when the consumer purchased it. Examples would include a dish that claims to be “microwave safe,” yet it explodes in the microwave causing the consumer to suffer injuries, or a stool that does not come with a weight limit warning of any kind, yet when a 165-pound man sits on it, it buckles and causes him injury.
Just as the name implies, design defects originate with the engineer who designed the product. In cases such as these, the product will be flawed before it is even manufactured. Examples might include a coffee maker that is designed so that the digital clock on the timer can ignite a fire when the timer is set or an automobile in which, by design, the exhaust releases emissions into the vehicle where noxious fumes are inhaled by the driver and passengers.
Manufacturing defects happen when products are assembled in the factory. Examples might include
if a television manufacturer installed the electrical circuitry backward so that it caused an electric shock when it was plugged in or a children’s bicycle manufacturer who, despite the bicycle being designed correctly, used fasteners that were too short to hold the tires on properly, and the first time it was ridden, a tire came loose, causing the child to fall and suffer an extreme injury.
Even though the reasons a product may have come to be defective might vary, the collective terminology “product liability” refers to a designer, a manufacturer, or a retailer being held accountable for a defective product making its way to a consumer. The law requires that products meet a consumer’s “ordinary expectations.” When a product is defective and that defect carries the threat of danger, it does not meet the ordinary expectations of the consumer.
There have been numerous product liability lawsuits in recent news. See if you remember any of these…
- Johnson & Johnson’s carcinogenic Baby Powder
- The exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Smartphones
- The lawsuit against Merck Pharmaceuticals for their Vioxx painkiller
- The exploding gas tanks on Kia automobiles
- The defective safety device on Remington Rifles
- The Takata airbag’s defective inflator and propellent device
- The Philip Morris Tobacco lawsuit
- The fatal Hyrmoc Pelvic Mesh
- The rupturing Dow Corning breast implants
If you or a loved one has been injured due to a defective product, you need to see an attorney right away. The attorney will consult with an expert (which will most likely be an engineer similar to the one who designed the product that injured you), and together, they will investigate and determine how the product involved was defective or failed to come accompanied with the proper warnings or instructions. Then the attorney will consult with your doctor (and probably also a hired expert doctor) to determine if the specific cause of your injury could have been prevented if it were not for your proper use of the defective product. Once those hurdles have been jumped, the attorney will then proceed to initiate a claim against the marketer, the manufacturer, and/or the designer of the product that injured you.
Proverbs 24:16 - “For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes.”
Call (863) 287-6388 in Polk County or (813) 287-6388 in Hillsborough County and Pinellas County today to schedule a free confidential consultation with an attorney at Your Christian Law Firm, Dean Burnetti Law.
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We declare that Jesus Christ is the Lord of all. That the Holy Spirit abides in the midst of all within our halls. That the power of prayer is our shield and sword.
We declare that Christ is the cornerstone of this firm.
LAKELAND OFFICE:
1937 East Edgewood Drive, Suite 102,
Lakeland, Florida 33803
Lakeland: (863) 287-6388
BRANDON OFFICE:
413 Lithia Pinecrest Road,
Brandon, FL 33511
Brandon: (813) 287-6388
ST. PETE OFFICE:
11300 4th Street N., Ste. 140,
St. Petersburg, FL 33716
St. Pete: (813) 287-6388