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Dangerous and defective products have caused
catastrophic injury or death to thousands of consumers each year.
The public expects to purchase products that are safe and suitable
for their intended uses - and the law expects this as well. When a
manufacturer fails to design or manufacture its products safely and
in compliance with reasonable standards, or fails to properly warn
consumers of potential injury, the results can be devastating.
A product is defective, or unreasonably dangerous to the user,
when it poses a danger for causing physical harm in excess of what
would be expected by the ordinary user. The defective product may
be one you purchased for your personal use, one that was supplied
to you by someone else, or one that you use at work. Although there
is no duty upon the manufacturer to produce a product that is
'accident-proof,' the manufacturer is required to make a product
that is free from defective and unreasonably dangerous
conditions.
If you have been injured by a dangerous or defective product, you
might be able to bring a product liability case against a variety
of parties involved in the manufacturing of the product. Defendants
in the case may include a manufacturer of component parts as well
as an assembling manufacturer.
To pursue a product liability claim, the defective condition must
have caused your injury; in other words, if the defective condition
did not exist, the injury would not have occurred. A defective
condition may be a legal cause of the injury even though the
outcome involved the act of another, some natural cause, or some
other cause if the defective condition contributes substantially to
producing the injury.
It is important that the product be preserved and not altered in
any way. It is also important to preserve any proof of purchase and
the documents which accompanied the product, particularly the
instruction booklets or warranties. If there were any witnesses to
the accident involving the defective product, their contact
information should be saved. It is also important to note from whom
and where the product was purchased.
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