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Every year, tens of thousands of manufacturers of consumer, commercial, and industrial products issue recalls of defective goods to protect the health and safety of their customers and the general public. Defective products cause widespread injury and fatality every year throughout Southern California and across the nation. In many cases, their manufacturers face legal liability for the harm their products caused.
The San Diego personal injury attorneys at Gomez Trial Attorneys represent people who sustain catastrophic and even fatal injuries because of defective products. Our experienced, hard-working team has the resources and know-how to hold even the largest manufacturers accountable for the devastation and tragedy their products inflict. Contact us today for a free case evaluation.
With limited exceptions, manufacturers of products we use in everyday life have a legal obligation not to sell products that pose an unreasonable danger to health and safety. Unfortunately, manufacturers do not always live up to that obligation. Instead, their products contain flaws in their design, in how they were made, or in the warning labels attached to them that make them unsafe. When those products cause injuries, manufacturers often face legal liability under California law.
Virtually any product can contain a dangerous defect. However, some categories of products harbor the potential to cause vast harm, such as:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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:
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.
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:
John Gomez, Product Liability Lawyer
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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