Defective & Dangerous Products

Everyday Products Can Be Dangerous

The average person uses hundreds of different products every day, assuming that they are safe and will work as advertised.  Most of the time, they do, so you rarely stop to think much about a product’s safety. Understandably, consumers trust that products sold in this country have been adequately sourced, made and protected from anything that could cause us harm.  The government would not let a company sell a defective and dangerous product, right?  Think again.  

While our expectation that the products we buy to use and eat are safe, this is not always the case.  Whether you’re at home or in an office, a hospital, business or other establishment, defective and dangerous products find their way into our lives.  These defects may be caused by errors in labeling, design, or manufacturing or even because of false marketing claims.  Because of these dangerous or defective products, thousands of innocent people suffer tragic consequences in the form of catastrophic injury or even death.

Ideally, government agencies monitor the safety of all of these products. The Food and Drug Administration, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission do their best to protect these supplies. Still, faulty products make their way onto our grocery shelves and our plates, into the products we use, and into our medicines. This places us, as unsuspecting consumers, in harm’s way. Life-threatening or long-term illness and even death can result. Negligence on the part of manufacturers can result in inaccurate test results, contaminated food, unsafe premises, equipment that has not been properly sterilized, manufacturing shortcuts, problems with computers, and, of course, the human elements of error or oversight all contribute to the problem.  

Additionally, with more and more U.S. retailers buying products made in China (where little or no manufacturing standards exist), defective product claims are on the rise yet Chinese manufacturers are rarely subject to jurisdiction in the U.S.  State laws generally permit a person injured to pursue the seller of the defective product if the manufacturer is beyond the court’s reach. But large retailers will often claim that the manufacturer has a legal connection with U.S. and thus will give you the run around when pursuing them.  Our firm has significant experience showing that jurisdiction cannot be established over a Chinese manufacturer or that a potential judgment will be not be collectable against a Chinese manufacturer, so that our clients can hold the retailers of these defective products responsible. 

When a product is recalled, it can alert consumers to any possible risks. But if they have already used or consumed the product, a product recall may come too late, and injuries or deaths of family members may have already occurred.  In addition, even if you are not injured, you paid good money for a defective product and should be entitled to a refund or to a free non-defective replacement.  It is not fair and sometimes only a lawyer can help you.  

Claims related to product liability are complicated, especially regarding where in the process of bringing a product to the consumer the defect appears. In addition, these cases can be very expensive to prosecute because many expert witnesses will be required to prove that the product at issue is truly defective.  The lawyers at Watson Burns have successfully litigated numerous complicated death and catastrophic injury claims related to dangerous and defective products.  We have the financial wherewithal to properly fund your case and hire all the experts that you will need to prove your case and win.  To view a few examples of defective products cases that we have handled in the past, please click here.

If you or someone you care about has been injured or killed as the result of a potentially defective product, please give us a call and we will review your situation and give you a candid assessment of your potential case free of charge.  To see how we usually charge for handling dangerous and defective product cases if we accept your case, please visit the Legal Fees section of our site.