A defective product can cause severe injuries to consumers. Any Atlanta product liability attorney at our law firm can attest to the fact that even a small item, such as a mobile phone, can hurt people so badly that they need medical attention and are left in pain.
However, for the injured party it is not always clear who is responsible to pay compensation for their medical bills and other economic damages. Moreover, in some instances, such as car accidents or injuries sustained in hospital, they are unable to determine that a defective product was the ultimate cause of their injuries. This is why you need to consult with a personal injury attorney in Atlanta as soon as possible after any accident which may be caused by someone else’s negligence.
Legal Definition of Defective Products for Personal Injury Purposes
The first thing that an Atlanta product liability attorney will want to establish is the type of defect that caused your injury. The legal principles applicable to tort law in Georgia recognize three meanings of the term “defective”:
- Design defect – this type of defect occurs before a product is made and sent for sale. Its blueprint for manufacturing contains an error which may lead to malfunction
- Manufacturing defect – during the manufacturing process of a specific item (or a batch of item) there is an error, making the product (or products) defective
- Failure to warn – this type of defect refers to the manufacturer’s negligence in giving clear instructions for use, warning against improper uses and foreseeable hazards associated with normal use.
A personal injury attorney in Atlanta will investigate your specific case carefully, because your lawsuit must specify the type of defect clearly. For any regular person, this would be a very difficult thing to determine. However, our lawyers have extensive experience in this field of tort law.
Types of Personal Injuries Arising from a Defective Product
As explained above, a defective product can be the primary cause for many types of accidents covered by personal injury law. Here are some instances:
- A car accident, motorcycle accident or truck accident when the brakes are defective
- Suffering an electrical shock on someone’s premises due to defective electrical appliances
- Suffering injuries in a healthcare unit due to a defective medical device
- Suffering complications from a medication due to lack of warning concerning dosage.
Why is important to identify the primary cause in all these instances? As your Atlanta product liability attorney will explain to you, there is a big difference in the available recovery from an individual or small business and the compensation to be won in a lawsuit from a large manufacturer, distributor or retailer.
How Do You Prove that a Defective Product Caused Your Injuries?
One of the specifics of strict liability law is that the injured party does not have to prove negligence. Even if the manufacturer did not cut corners and did not change the production process to save money, the fact that even one of their products caused your injuries is sufficient for them to be liable. Here are some important aspects concerning a personal injury lawsuit filed on the grounds of strict liability:
1. You Do Not Have to Present Proof of Purchase
During the first meeting with a personal injury attorney in Atlanta, many people say that they received the defective product as a gift. Thus, they do not have a receipt for it. That aspect does not matter from a legal standpoint. You could be visiting a friend or at work and using a defective coffee machine when you got injured.
2. You Have to Prove that the Defective Product Injured You
The simplest way of proving causation in any personal injury case is seeking medical attention as soon as possible after the accident. The medical report will note the type of injuries and your lawyer will prove that they are consistent with the type of accident you are describing.
Without a medical report, your Atlanta product liability attorney won’t be able to do very much. A lawyer representing the manufacturer or the retailer will simply claim that you were injured in different circumstances – and it will be nearly impossible to disprove this claim.
3. You Must Have Used the Defective Product as It Was Intended
This is a critical part of any case based on product liability tort. For example, most laptops must be charged using their specific charges which transform the input voltage of 110 – 240V AC into 19V DC output. Any other type of charger that delivers higher voltage resulting in the laptop catching fire or otherwise injuring you will invalidate your case. The reason is that you do not use it (during charging) as intended by the producer.
4. The Product Was in the Same State as at the Moment of Purchase
This is yet another objection that the opposing counsel may make. They will try to prove that you may have damaged or otherwise altered the product. In this case, you don’t have a case.
However, as any personal injury attorney in Atlanta can prove, the technical expertise will show that the item was not interfered with. In this case, you have the right to receive compensation.
5. You Suffered Economic Damages and Property Damage
The existence of economic damages is at the core of any personal injury case. However, this is extremely easy to prove by showing your medical bills, pay slips to calculate lost wages while you were recovering, and receipts to replace damaged items.
Let Our Experienced Product Liability Law Firm Win Your Compensation!
The legal team at Diaz & Gaeta will fight on your behalf and win the maximum compensation you can receive. In limited cases, we may even be able to seek punitive damages. Even though, in this specific case, the state of Georgia retains 75% of punitive damages and 25% goes to the plaintiff, it still represents an extra amount of money to help with your financial recovery.
We offer each client a free initial session, where you will discuss your case directly with one of our lawyers. Don’t forget that the statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit is two years after the date of the accident that caused your injury, so contact us as soon as possible: 678-329-9084!
