Personal Injury, Product Liability and Consumer Rights

Unpredictability is the feature that makes accidents so frightening. We all know that accidents can happen any time. We can stay alert and we can hope that nothing bad will happen to us or our families. But accidents still occur.

A lot of people become victims of different types of accidents every year. Road accident seems to be most common. Car crash, truck accident, motorcycle accident and bicycle accident can be very devastating. In case of road accidents, the entire responsibility not always goes to the offender. Sometimes victims share equal responsibility and it’s not offender’s fault completely. However, exceptions are always there.

In my previous hub I wrote about the Dos and Don’ts for Car Accident Personal Injury Victims. The list can be useful for car accident victims, whether it is the victims’ fault or someone else’s.

Today, I am going to discuss the areas of personal injury and accidents where the victims have no responsibility. In other words, it’s completely someone else’s fault that causes damages for the victim.

Product Liability

This is an instance of personal injury where consumers have nothing to do. It is almost impossible to prevent the effects of defective and below-graded products. Consumers usually have 100% faith on the manufacturers and marketers. If any intentional or unintentional negligence on manufacturer’s part leads to injuries, consumers can claim compensation.

Most product liability claims are based on the following grounds:

• Negligence
• Strict Liability
• Consumer Protection against breach of warranty etc.

Strict liability is the set of guidelines that holds manufacturer and other concerned individuals responsible for the damages caused by the product whether or not he has acted negligently.

• Manufacturing defect
• Designing defect
• Failure to make consumers aware properly

These are the points go against the manufacturer in the court of law. However, strict liability is not applicable for defective design and failure to make consumer aware of the harsh effects of the products. Strict liability only deals with manufacturing defects. Whether the manufacturer did intentionally or not, he can be held responsible for any manufacturing defect.

Negligence claim can be brought against the manufacturer if any of the following points can be proved:

• A responsibility owed
• Breach of that responsibility
• Breach of responsibility caused injury to the plaintiff

Even when the product is used incorrectly by the consumer, Strict Liability claim can be brought against the manufacturer or concerned entity in the supply chain.

Product liability laws are defined at state level and vary from state to state. It is a state judge made law. To win a product liability claim, a lot of things need to be proved in court. Efficient product liability attorneys can help consumers win the case.

Marketing Misrepresentation – Product Liability

Marketing misrepresentation can fall under product liability claim. Any kind of confusing adverts, poorly written instructions or difficult-to-understand user guide can be treated as marketing misrepresentation.

For example, the instructions or the literature attached with medicines and drugs are often written in small font size and in difficult technical language. A layman finds such texts tough to crack.

This type of instructions should be revised properly and rewritten for general people. Otherwise the manufacturer can be held responsible if consumers get injured from wrong use of the product.

However, Product Liability and Strict Liability both the doctrines are good to protect consumers from wrongful activities of manufacturers and produces of consumer goods. Manufacturers would be more careful about the quality of goods and other concerns so that nothing unpleasant happen to the end users.