AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCTS

Southern Californians live an outsized portion of their lives in their cars. Oftentimes, a single car part manufacturer’s products end up installed in multiple makes and models of vehicles. That can cause massive, and deadly, problems when the product contains a dangerous defect. In the past few years alone, for example, defective airbags in a wide range of cars, trucks, and SUVs have caused injury and death on U.S. roads by deploying without warning, or by not deploying at all. Similarly, defective tires installed on countless vehicles have led to catastrophic accidents and multiple fatalities. Automotive manufacturers have an obligation to recall vehicles containing known defects that pose a safety issue, but oftentimes the defect does not come to light until many accidents have happened and many innocent motorists have suffered injuries or died. You can find out if your car, truck, or SUV has outstanding recalls by entering your vehicles VIN here.

OVER-THE-COUNTER AND PRESCRIPTION PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS

Americans swallow, inhale, and ingest countless pharmaceutical products every day. We assume these products are safe for our bodies, or at least not harmful. Most of that time, we are correct. However, on occasion we take a pill, or swallow a liquid, or inhale a vapor that has the potential to cause dangerous, even deadly, health complications. Manufacturers of these products often (but not always) must submit to a rigorous application and testing process before they may bring the products to market. Even when they get the go-ahead, however, defective medicines and personal care products can cause extensive harm. For a current list of drugs and pharmaceutical products that the government has flagged as potentially dangerous, click here.

HOUSEHOLD GOODS AND APPLIANCES

Within reason, we trust that the household goods and appliances we buy and bring home will work as intended and will not cause us harm. Sure, we all (hopefully) understand that we should not drink toxic cleaning products or stick our fingers in a hot toaster, but we also expect that a cleaning product will not damage our lungs when we follow its instructions for use, and that the toaster will not burn down our homes when we drop a couple of slices of bread into it. Defective consumer goods and appliances can make people sick, start house fires, and maim users, among other catastrophes. Manufacturers should, and often do, recall these products from the market, but as with vehicles, oftentimes the recall happens only after a product has caused a devastating injury. This government website lists recalls of household products.

TOYS

Children do not have the same capacity to perceive danger and risk as adults do. For that reason, manufacturers of toys must take extra care not to sell products that could injure a child, even if used in a way that the manufacturer might not intend or expect. Children have been known to choke on small toy parts, to get sick from putting toys with toxic paint on them in their mouths, and from using toys in a dangerous, but predictable way. The website linked in the household products section above also lists toys subject to recall.

LEGAL LIABILITY FOR DEFECTIVE PRODUCT INJURIES

Most of the time, when a product fails the only cost to the consumer is the loss of the value of the product itself. However, when a dangerously defective product injures someone directly, or causes an accident that results in injuries, the manufacturer of that product may face liability for damages to anyone harmed. The team of product liability lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys has the resources and skills to hold those manufacturers accountable. Manufacturers can face liability in three basic ways:

• Defective design: a product may have been designed in a manner that makes it unreasonably dangerous for ordinary use.
• Defective manufacture: a product may have been assembled in a faulty manner, or out of materials that lack the necessary characteristics for the product to perform as intended.
• Defective warning: a product which poses some danger (but not an unreasonable amount of danger) when used as intended should come with warnings, so that a user has notice of how to use it safely.

Any of these defects in a product that lead to someone getting hurt can expose the manufacturer to strict liability for damages. In other words, the manufacturer will face liability even if it did not do anything wrongful (or negligent) in producing the product, and even if it could not have foreseen that the product was defective and would cause injury. Manufacturers (and others in the chain of commerce) can also face liability for acting carelessly or recklessly in their production and marketing of a product. For instance, a manufacturer that builds a safe product, but then badly mishandles it in the process of shipping it to retail stores to make the product dangerous, may face liability for those negligent actions. A retail store could, in theory, also face similar liability for, say, storing a product incorrectly and then selling it in an unreasonably dangerous condition. Finally, manufacturers can face legal liability for damages if they break a promise they made when they sold the product regarding the product’s quality or functionality (known as a warranty). At Gomez Trial Attorneys, we have sought to hold manufacturers and others accountable for their failures to produce and/or sell safe products. Speak with us if any kind of product injured you when you used it as ordinarily intended.

COMPENSATION FOR VICTIMS OF DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS

A San Diego resident injured by a defective product may have the legal right to seek compensation for a variety of harms. Every dangerous defect case we handle at Gomez Trial Attorneys is different, of course, but as a general matter, people injured by dangerously defective products may seek to recover compensation for:

• Medical costs associated with treating an injury stemming from the use of a dangerously defective product, including emergency care, hospitalization, doctor visits, medications, medical equipment, and various forms of rehabilitation therapy.
• Lost wages owing to time a person injured by a dangerous product missed from work while recovering, as well as future wages the person might not earn because of disabilities or impairments caused by the defective product injury.
• Other monetary losses resulting from the defective product injury, such as the cost of hiring help with day-to-day tasks that an injured victim cannot perform because of the injury;
• Physical pain, mental suffering, and diminished quality of life that accompanied the defective product injury and its aftermath, including harm done to a person’s ability to enjoy activities or to maintain personal relationships.

Every case has its own unique features, of course, so there is no guarantee of recovering all, or any, of the categories of damages listed above in a particular case. Speak with a member of the product liability injury team at Gomez Trial Attorneys today to determine the scope of damages you might recover after sustaining an injury because of a dangerously defective product.

WHAT TO DO AFTER GETTING HURT BY A DEFECTIVE PRODUCT

No one expects the consumer product they use, or swallow, or touch to cause them harm. That makes it difficult to plan for what you might do if a dangerously defective product leaves you injured. Because every case is different, we cannot offer specific advice on that score. However, following the tips below may help you to protect your health, safety, wellbeing, and legal rights in the aftermath of an unexpected injury caused by a dangerous product:

• Seek appropriate medical care immediately. Do not make the mistake of underestimating the severity of an injury. Go do the doctor and get yourself checked out. Not only will seeking and following a doctor’s advice keep you healthy and put you on the path to recovering from an injury right away, it will also create an indelible record of the connection between your injury and the defective product that caused it (which may come in handy for your lawyer later on).
• Do not throw the product away or return it for a replacement! Many people react to getting hurt by a dangerously defective product by throwing the product away in disgust or anger. We certainly understand that impulse. However, we also urge you to resist it. The product that injured you constitutes perhaps the single most compelling piece of evidence for proving the existence of a dangerous defect that hurt you. Tossing it in the trash or sending it to the junkyard, or returning it to the store where you bought it in exchange for a replacement, could amount to throwing away your legal rights to significant compensation. Instead, hold on to the product, whether it is intact or in pieces, and keep it in a safe place. Your lawyer may want to have a forensic scientist examine it to identify the specific defect that harmed you.
• Beware of offers to make things right. A business that finds out it has manufactured or sold a dangerously defective product that injured you has one thing on its mind: damage control. You can expect that business to take steps to limit its financial liability to you and other consumers like you as much as possible. One way the business might try to do that is to make an informal offer to you to fix things, say, by giving you free goods and services or refunding you the purchase price of a product plus “a little extra for your trouble.” Do not, under any circumstances, fall for this tactic. Agreeing to these sorts of offers could amount to a settlement that releases the business from legal liability to you. If you suffered a serious injury, whatever the business offers will never amount to what you deserve and need to cover your expenses, losses, and pain and suffering. Leave negotiations with that business to your lawyer instead.

CONTACT A SAN DIEGO PRODUCT LIABILITY LAWYER TODAY

At Gomez Trial Attorneys, we stand up to the largest manufacturers and most expensive defense attorneys to make sure our clients receive the compensation they deserve for injuries caused by dangerously defective products. Our team has the experience, skill, and resources to see even the most complex product liability cases through to a successful conclusion, even if that means going all the way to a trial in a California court. Did you or a loved one suffer a serious injury after using or consuming any kind of product? If so, the product liability lawyers at Gomez Trial Attorneys want to talk to you right away. Contact us today online or at (619) 237-3490 for a free, confidential, no-obligation consultation to discuss the injuries you suffered because of a dangerously defective product.

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