HOUSTON PRODUCT LIABILITY LAWYER
Product Liability Lawyers in Houston, TX
The designers, manufacturers, distributors, marketers, and sales operators all have clear safety standards to which they must adhere. These standards ensure that products on the market are safe and that any potential risks are clearly identified on the packaging. These parties hold the responsibility for preventing dangerous products from reaching consumers, as well as warning them of potential dangers that products pose. Lastly, these parties must recall defective products in accordance with federal and state guidelines. If you suffered injuries due to a defective product, you need a Houston product liability lawyer at Reich & Binstock.
At Reich & Binstock, our Houston product liability attorneys fight for the rights of the consumers, not large corporations. We know that, when you use a product, you expect it to perform safely and correctly. Sometimes, however, those associated with that product’s manufacturing process cut corners. These cost or time-saving tactics lead to injuries and sometimes even the wrongful death of a loved one. That’s why you need our Houston product liability lawyers for your Houston product injury case. Call today at 713-622-7271 or fill out our online intake form to schedule your free consultation. If your loved one has passed away due to a dangerous product, you need a wrongful death attorney.
Attorneys Dennis C. Reich and Robert J. Binstock, our firm’s founding partners, are board-certified in personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
What Is Product Liability?
Thousands of people are injured every year in the United States as a result of faulty or defective products. Product liability law is a collection of legal principles that govern who is liable for defective or dangerous products. However, it differs from ordinary personal injury law. This collection of laws can make it simpler for someone who has sustained serious injuries from a defective product to recover compensation.
A producer or seller might be held responsible for placing a defective product in the hands of a customer. All sellers of the goods in the distribution chain bear responsibility for consumer products that’s fault causes serious injury. In general, the law demands that a product fulfill the consumer’s usual expectations. This means that the product cannot be unreasonably dangerous.
There is no federal product liability legislation in the United States. Typically, product liability lawsuits are made under the grounds of negligence, strict liability, or breach of warranty, and are based on state laws. In addition, each state will have a set of commercial legislation patterned after the Uniform Commercial Code that will include warranty regulations influencing product liability.
What Is Strict Product Liability?
The notion of strict liability in tort law relates to holding one party financially responsible for product liability injuries without needing proof of real carelessness, recklessness, or tortious intent.
Strict responsibility does not imply that the maker is responsible for any and all losses resulting from the usage of their goods. The injured party who files a Houston dangerous product claim must still show some parts of their case, but unlike other types of lawsuits, comparative culpability is not a factor.
According to Texas law, product responsibility is a strict liability violation. This indicates that carelessness is irrelevant. The defendant is responsible if there is a flaw in the goods that caused injury. This is based on Chapter 82 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.
Why Does Strict Liability Apply in Certain Cases?
Product manufacturers are in the greatest position to assure the safety of their products prior to placing them on the market. As a result, they can be held solely responsible for any foreseeable injuries caused by a defective product through product liability claims.
What Are the Most Common Types of Product Liability Claims?
Product liability claims vary greatly depending on the type of product involved. However, most cases fall into one of three major categories. Whether the case involved defective auto parts, defective medical devices, prescription drugs, or even opioids, it falls into one of the following categories: a design defect, a manufacturing defect, or failure to warn. Parents have even begun to file social media addiction lawsuits against major social media companies for deliberately creating addictive algorithms.
Design Defects
All products will inherently be dangerous if there is a defective design. In layman’s terms, there isn’t a way a consumer product can be safe if it is dangerous due to its actual design. Product designers can be held liable for products that suffer from design defects, if a “reasonably safe alternative” exists.
This simply means that if there is a way to make a similar product without a defective design without costing a considerable amount more, the company must select the safer option.
Manufacturing Defects
Even if a product’s design is safe, it can still be a dangerous or defective product. This may occur when there’s a problem when the product is built or manufactured. Manufacturing defects can either affect the entire product line or a single product.
For example, a product may suffer from a manufacturing defect if the manufacturer builds the item with the wrong size material. When the product fails, it’s not caused by a design defect, but rather by the builders who chose to ignore consumer safety.
Failure to Warn
In general, businesses aren’t held liable for a personal injury that’s caused by the dangerous aspects of a product that should be immediately evident to the consumer. But, according to product liability laws, when the dangers aren’t apparent, this changes. Companies have an obligation to include warning labels and proper instructions on any product that may not be apparently dangerous.
Even defective packaging (including packaging with insufficient instructions) can lead to a valid product liability claim. For example, the recent Exactech recall stems from a defect in the packaging of various joint replacement implants.
Failure to warn can also apply to products that were made to be intentionally addictive for users. Examples include modern products like social media and video games. Video game addiction and social media addiction are two growing problems in the United States, as well as in many other parts of the world.
Who Is Responsible for Defective Product Injuries in Houston?
As a general guideline, you should investigate all parties engaged in the product’s distribution chain. This can include:
- Manufacturer: The producer of the defective products is at the start of the distribution chain. This might be a large corporation or a single person operating with power tools, out of their garage. This includes any other parties engaged in the product’s production, design, or marketing who may be related to the problem, particularly if they are a separate party from the manufacturer.
- Retailer: Even though the merchant where you purchased the defective products did not produce it, the business might still be held responsible for selling you a dangerous product.
- Distributor or Wholesaler: There may be a variety of wholesalers, suppliers, distributors, or other intermediaries between the producer and the store. Each is possibly responsible in your product liability claim since they are a member of the defective product’s distribution chain.
What Compensation Can I Receive After Being Injured by a Dangerous or Defective Product?
Financial recovery is available for those who have suffered damages or wrongful death because of a faulty product. Our Experienced product liability attorneys will pursue compensation for economic damages, noneconomic damages, and punitive damages, if applicable.
Economic damages are the monetary losses that a person suffers as a result of an injury caused by a faulty or unsafe product. In order to give an accurate estimate of potential losses, wounded victims might depend on evidence from medical, vocational, and financial specialists.
Economic damages can include:
- Past medical bills
- Future medical expenses
- Long-term care costs
- Lost wages
- Loss of earning capacity
- Property damage or destruction
Non-economic damages are designed to recompense a victim for intangible losses incurred as a result of their injury. They are regarded as more subjective than economic damages, which are measurable using objective facts and numbers.
In a Houston product liability case, witness evidence, including your own, is usually utilized to determine the amount of non-economic damages you may be entitled to. Your treating physicians, as well as medical and vocational experts, may be asked to testify about the limitations imposed by your disabilities on your life.
Noneconomic damages can include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of quality or enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium
While compensatory damages serve to make the victim “whole” again, punitive damages serve as punishments for the liable parties. They also serve as deterrents against others committing the same acts.
However, punitive damages are rare in product liability cases.
What to Do if You Think You Have a Product Liability Case?
A few things must be demonstrated in order for a Houston product liability lawyer to make a successful product liability claim. Duty, flaw, causality, and damage are some of these components.
- Duty: The vendor or manufacturer of the goods owes the individual a responsibility to provide them a safe product.
- Flaw: In order for a Houston product liability attorney to prove that the product was faulty in any way, he or she must show that it was actually defective in some way.
- Causality: To establish causation, the plaintiff must show that the product defect was the primary cause of the harm.
- Harm: The plaintiff must have been injured as a result of the defect to be considered harmed.
You’ll need to make some preparations if you want to pursue a product liability lawsuit in Houston. If at all feasible, salvaging the product would be an excellent place to start. This is frequently used as evidence in court by both sides.
If you have a case containing a warning fault, it’s critical to keep the package and instructions. Begin gathering any medical documents or invoices that prove your injuries or expenditures incurred.
Contact Our Experienced Houston Product Liability Attorneys for a Free Consultation
You have legal options if you were injured by a defective or dangerous product in Houston, TX.
At Reich & Binstock, our Houston product liability lawyers have the experience, knowledge, and legal resources to go up against multiple parties and big corporations. No matter how many parties are responsible for your injuries, our Houston personal injury lawyers will fight to get you the compensation you deserve. To schedule a free consultation today with our Houston personal injury lawyers, please call 713-622-7271 or fill out our online intake form today.
There is never a fee unless we recover on your behalf.
Additionally, clients are not obligated to pay expenses if a recovery is not made.