Contact Gerling Law in Louisville, Evansville, and Indianapolis for a consultation with our product liability attorneys if you or a loved one has been injured by the use of a defective product.
Gerling Law
Injury Attorneys
519 Main Street
Evansville, Indiana 47708
(812) 423-5251
10401 N. Meridian Street, Suite 300
Indianapolis, Indiana 46290
(317) 616-3646
401 W. Main Street, #710
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
(502) 587-8888
(888) GERLING
(812) 423-9928 (fax)
Evansville, Indianapolis, and Louisville Product Liability Attorneys
The use of a defective product may result in serious personal injury or even wrongful death. Vehicles, tools, appliances, toys, household products, pharmaceuticals, and other everyday items may be defective. Manufacturers, designers, and retailers of products have a responsibility to consumers to ensure the safety of the products they create and market. If they fail in this responsibility and a consumer is injured while using a product in the way it was intended to be used, anyone who helped get the product to market may be held liable for the resulting injuries.
At Gerling Law in Louisville, Evansville, and Indianapolis, our product liability attorneys know the details involved in cases involving defective products and can help you recover the compensation you deserve if you have been harmed.
- Product Liability Law
- Building a Product Liability Case and Determining Legal Responsibility
- Establishing a Product as Defective
- How Our Product Liability Attorneys Can Help
- Contact Our Product Liability Attorneys
Product Liability Law
Product liability law is a division of personal injury law, that helps compensate those injured by the use of faulty products. Anyone who is injured by a product may sue the responsible parties to recover compensation for the injuries. However, you may not be eligible to file a product liability claim if you made alterations to the product, ignored warnings, or used the product in a way in which it was not intended.
Building a Product Liability Case and Determining Legal Responsibility
In order to win a product liability lawsuit, our product liability attorneys must show that:
- The product that caused your injury was defective or unreasonably dangerous
- The defect was the cause of your injury
- The defect rendered the product excessively hazardous
Determining who was responsible for injuries or deaths caused by a defective product can be complicated. Anyone who was involved in creating or selling the product, from the manufacturer to the retailer, can potentially be held liable for injuries. At Gerling Law in Louisville, Evansville, and Indianapolis, our product liability attorneys have extensive experience in handling defective product cases and will investigate every aspect of your claim to determine who should be held responsible for your injuries.
There are four methods for establishing liability in a defective product case:
Negligence
Any party that does not provide reasonable care, when they have a legal responsibility to do so, may be found negligent. This includes failure to act, carelessness, and malicious actions. In a product liability case, anyone who was responsible for creating, selling, or marketing the defective product may be found negligent.
Breach of Warranty
Companies are required to uphold claims and fulfill obligations regarding the products they manufacture. A breach of warranty occurs when a seller fails to uphold a claim or promise about a product.
Misrepresentation
When product advertising claims mislead customers by downplaying the risks involved with the use of their product, the party who is responsible for misrepresentation can be held liable for resulting injuries.
Strict Liability
Manufacturers and retailers of products must reasonably try to protect consumers by providing warnings on their products and ensuring that defective parts are not used. Under strict liability, the seller or manufacturer of a defective product is held liable for injuries sustained while using the product correctly, regardless of fault or intent. Anyone involved in the creation of a product can potentially be liable for any personal injuries resulting from its use.
Establishing a Product as Defective
A product is considered defective if there is an unreasonable risk of injury to consumers by its use. At Gerling Law in Louisville, Indianapolis, and Evansville, our product liability attorneys can determine who is responsible for the defect that caused your injuries. Defects can occur while the product is in the design, manufacturing, testing, or marketing stages.
Defective Design
Defects in the design of a product occur in the planning stage, before the product is created. If the defect is not discovered until after the product is released on the market, the manufacturer may need to issue a recall to ensure that consumers are not injured. However, these recalls may be initiated too late to prevent injuries. Many times, the product owners simply never hear about the recalls.
Defective Manufacturing
It is common for some flaws to occur during the manufacturing process. However, when these flaws end up injuring consumers, the manufacturers can be held liable.
Defective Testing
Even though products are required to be rigorously tested to ensure safety before they reach the market, flaws in testing can let through defects that can potentially cause injury to consumers. Insufficient testing or poorly planned tests can produce inaccurate results about the safety of the product, and testers may be pushed to approve products quickly to rush them to market.
Defective Marketing
Product packaging, including warnings and instructions, can misrepresent a product, leading consumers to use the product inappropriately and cause injuries. Unclear instructions or missing warnings on over-the-counter drugs or prescription medications are a common source of defective marketing.
How Our Product Liability Attorneys Can Help
If you believe you have been injured by a defective product, our Louisville, Evansville, and Indianapolis product liability attorneys can determine the source of the defect and hold the responsible parties liable for your injuries. We have helped many individuals and families recover compensation for injuries or wrongful death caused by defective products.
Contact Our Product Liability Attorneys
If you have been injured by using a product that you believe to be defective, and you live in or around the Louisville, Evansville or Indianapolis area, our product liability attorneys can help. Contact Gerling Law for a free, no obligation consultation with our lawyers to find out if you have a case.