Products liability is a tort law branch in which suppliers, retailers, and manufacturers are held liable for faulty products that cause harm to customers. The goal of this field of law is to provide consumers with a remedy when a product is incorrect or defective and causes damage or injury.
Who Can Sue Under Product Liability Laws?
A person who is likely to be harmed by a defective product may file a claim against the supplier or manufacturer of the product.
As long as the product was sold, practically anyone can sue if they are harmed because of it.
In a Product Liability Case, Who May Be Sued?
Anyone involved in the chain of distribution that leads to a product reaching customers may be held accountable under product liability laws if a fault causes injury. This could include:
- The product's maker
- The manufacturer of the product's components
- The individual or firm who assembles the product
- The individual or firm who installs the product
- Wholesalers
- Traders that sell products to customers in the normal course of business
Liability of Product Manufacturer:
If a product fails, the manufacturer is accountable.
- The product has a manufacturing flaw.
- The product's design is flawed.
- A departure from manufacturing specifications exists.
- The product does not meet the explicit warranty.
- The product lacks adequate instructions for proper usage to avoid harm, as well as any warning against improper or erroneous usage.
Liability of a Product Seller:
A product seller (who is not a product maker) is accountable if the product fails.
- Any person who has significant power over the layout, examination, manufacturing, wrapping, or labeling of a product will cause injury.
- Any individual has altered or modified the same product, and such transformation or alteration contains significant factors that will cause injury.
- Any person has made an express warranty in a product independent of any express warranty made by the manufacturer and the products fail to conform to such warranty.
- They have sold products and the identity of the product manufacturer is unknown, or if known, the service of notice or warranty cannot be impacted by them, or they are not subject to Indian law, or any order passed or to be passed will not be enforced against them.
- Any person who fails to use reasonable care when assembling, examining, or maintaining such things.
Liability of a Product Service Provider
A product service provider is responsible if
- The service provided by He\She was faulty in quality, nature or manner of a performance.
- There will be an act of commission or omission or negligence or conscious holding any information that will cause harmfulness.
- The service provider will not issue correct instructions or warnings to prevent any harmfulness to customers.
- The services will not conform to the express warranty or terms and conditions of a contract.
What is Covered Under Product Liability Insurance?
Product liability insurance pays for legal expenses incurred when a product you created, sold, or provided causes personal injury, property damage, or other loss.
- Product-related injury
- Product-caused property damage
- Illness brought on by a product
- Unjust death caused by a product
How Can One Establish Strict Product Liability?
A manufacturer is accountable for a defective product regardless of negligence under strict product liability. You must demonstrate that you utilized the product as aimed, and that harm occurred as a direct result. To win your case, you do not need to establish that the manufacturer was negligent.
What is the Role of a Product Liability Lawyer?
A product liability lawyer serves two functions:
- Prosecuting people and companies who manufactured a product that harmed you or your family.
- Protecting you if you have been suspected of developing a harmful product.
How Long Must a Product Liability Claim Be Filed?
The person has been harmed by the defective product; the person has a less amount of time to take a legal action. That’s because the statute of limitations will apply in every state.
A statute of limitations will set a maximum time deadline for how long a person must pursue an injury claim. There exists an order to ensure the person brings cases when the evidence is still available, and the eyewitness memories are fresh.
The statute of limitations varies by jurisdiction, although it is normally between one and four years, with some states imposing a two-year deadline for product liability cases. It is more crucial to pursue the lawsuit before the statute of limitations expires, otherwise it will be time-barred. If the statute of limitations has gone, the person cannot seek compensation.
Compensations Can Claimed by a Defective Product:
Economic Damages:
- Medical Expenses
- Loss of Income
- Property Damages
Non-economic Damages:
- Pain and Suffering
- Permanent Disfigurement
- Disabilities
- Mental Anguish
- Loss of Consortium
- Loss of Enjoyment in Person Life
How will Product Liability Claims Resolved?
The person will frequently negotiate settlements with the corporation (or the company's insurance) that is liable for delivering defective or incorrect products into your hands. If a person is unable to settle a case, he or she can go to court and file a civil claim.
In more cases, many numbers of people are harmed by wrong or defective products. As a result, these cases can be resolved in class action cases or multi-district litigation.
Class actions involve multiple plaintiffs suing in a single matter. Certain class members were named as plaintiffs or class representatives in class actions. They are genuinely participating in legal procedures, whilst most others will do little more than add their name to the class. Multidistrict litigation, on the other hand, consolidates more related cases under a single judge for convenience. Different claimants may still receive varying amounts of compensation based on the severity of their injuries.
Example of Settlement Case:
The goliath of all settlements, the $5.3 billion verdict awarded for the 27 plaintiffs who claim that Johnson & Johnson knowingly sold the talcum powder products that will cause ovarian cancer shook the nation in 2018. Since then, talc litigation has only grown more favorable for the plaintiffs, most notably in the April releases of Daubert hearing that will find plaintiff experts in separate lawsuits to pass a muster of scientific credibility.