You may be entitled to compensation if you have suffered severe injuries caused by a product malfunction or defect. Claims like these are often complicated, so working with a dedicated Las Vegas product liability lawyer at H&P Law may be in your best interests.
With multiple parties potentially sharing liability for the accident, it is crucial that we identify anyone and everyone who may share responsibility for your damages. Your highly qualified Las Vegas personal injury lawyer will thoroughly investigate the cause of your accident. Our responsibility will be to find the party responsible for your injuries and damages.
Contact our law offices today to request a free consultation and learn more about whether you have grounds for a product liability lawsuit. We have recovered more than $100 million for our clients.
Explaining Strict Product Liability
Product liability cases have a distinguishing characteristic. The plaintiffs, through their product liability attorneys, do not have to prove any degree of fault. This is called strict product liability. In other words, in a product liability case, the designer or manufacturer of a defective product is liable for injuries caused by the defective product, no matter how careful they were to make the safest products.
In a product liability case, fault is irrelevant. Instead, if the defendant is in the chain of distribution, they make money off the product. The designer, manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, retailer, and other third parties could be liable for injuries caused by a product proven to be defective.
While this means that you do have a right to recovery, it doesn’t necessarily mean that obtaining compensation is easy. As a result, we encourage you to seek the help of an experienced product liability lawyer in Las Vegas who knows how to hold manufacturers accountable.
Product Liability Statistics
Designers, manufacturers, and vendors can all be held responsible for dangerous products with the help of a product liability attorney. Billions of products enter the market every year, and countless preventable injuries occur due to consumer products.
The CPSC estimates that 13.6 billion emergency room visits each year can be traced back to consumer-product-related injuries and deaths in the United States. Most of those who have been hurt in such a manner do not realize that someone else may be responsible.
But your product liability lawyer will. We will stop at nothing to identify those responsible so you can get the most out of your claim.
Types of Product Liability Cases in Las Vegas
Claims for defective products can generally be classified into one of three categories: manufacturing defects, design defects, and failure to warn. All of these fall under premises liability law. If a product causes you harm, you should consult a product liability attorney who works at a product liability law firm.
Nevada personal injury laws make it clear that if a product manufacturer or distributor knows of a risk, they should warn of it or avoid it. But it is very common for mistakes, errors, and oversights to happen, and victims to suffer the consequences. Under these laws, victims who can prove their losses can file a claim for the damages they suffered from the at-fault party.
Notably, the state has a strict liability law under NRS: Chapter 695E, which does not require proving fault in all cases. Rather, the manufacturer could be held strictly liable if a product is defective and causes injuries as a result of that defect, even if they were not negligent in producing it. Here are the types of product liability defects we see:
Manufacturing Defects
A knowledgeable Las Vegas product liability attorney will tell you that manufacturing defects result from some error in the manufacturing process. This may include using poor-quality materials or shoddy workmanship.
When product liability cases result from manufacturing defects, only some of the product line is defective because it departs from the intended design in some way that makes the product dangerous. Manufacturing defect examples include a component with a missing part, the wrong part being installed, or the right part being installed incorrectly.
Design Defects
Design defects, by contrast, predate the manufacture and result in an inherently dangerous or useless product, even with high-caliber manufacture. Design defects are designed poorly as opposed to being put together poorly.
In a product liability lawsuit for a design defect, every product with a certain design is defective, not just some of them. Design defect examples include airbags or phones that explode, heating blankets that spontaneously combust, and SUVs that roll over when cornering.
Failure-to-Warn Cases
Failure-to-warn cases relate to products that have non-obvious dangers. The issue is that the products do not come with adequate warnings that, if included, could prevent all or some of the danger.
These cases do not require the product to have a flaw in the design or manufacturing process. Instead, the products are inherently dangerous (lawnmowers, power tools, microwaves) and lack appropriate warnings about the product’s potential dangers and correct uses.
Who Cannot Be Strictly Liable for Injuries Resulting from Unsafe Products?
Anyone not in the chain of distribution cannot be strictly liable for injuries resulting from unsafe products. That means you cannot be held liable if you buy an unsafe product and then loan it to your friend.
But the store you bought it from still can, as long as your friend is a foreseeable user of the product. For instance, it is foreseeable that you would let your friend use your lawnmower but not foreseeable that you would let your friend’s kid use your bulldozer. Talk to the team at H&P Law today about your case.
Compensation for Las Vegas Product Liability Victims
Injury victims should be reimbursed for every single loss they experience and the ways their lives have been affected by the accident. Your product liability lawyer in Las Vegas will closely calculate your damages to ensure you receive fair compensation. It is up to you, the victim, to prove what your losses are and that product liability applies in your case.
To do this, our Las Vegas product liability lawyer will gather evidence to support your claim, such as photos or video of what occurred, evidence of the manufacturing defect, or the lack of warnings. We will research the circumstances of your situation in an effort to prove product liability without any question.
Once we do that, we can then build your claim, which could include far more than you may expect. If you were hurt in a product liability accident, we strongly recommend working with our legal team to explore all potential losses you have. Here are some of the most frequently awarded types of damages in product liability insurance and civil claims.
Economic vs. Non-Economic Damages
Economic damages and non-economic damages collectively include your financially based losses and the ways your life has been affected by your injuries and the accident that caused them. Economic damages are monetary, and non-economic damages account for every other loss. Some examples could include:
- Loss of household services
- Lost wages
- Pain and suffering
- Indignity and embarrassment
- Permanent disability
- Diminished earning potential
- Emotional distress
- Disfigurement and skin scarring
- Loss of consortium
- Reduced quality of life
The recoverable damages in your product liability claim are comprehensive, meaning that if you can demonstrate your injuries and losses are due to the negligence of others, you can seek compensation for them. Recoverable damages can be hard to prove in some cases, which is why it is so important to work with a skilled legal team capable of helping you.
Loss of Life Claims in a Product Liability Case
In some tragic situations, people lose their lives due to the negligence or liability of a manufacturer. If this has happened to your loved one, seek the guidance of a highly skilled legal team that will work aggressively to help you get justice.
You may be owed compensation for financial losses, including funeral expenses, burial costs, and end-of-life medical care. Do not settle a claim like this, as it could mean putting your future on the line. Let our Las Vegas wrongful death lawyer help you instead.
Get Help from a Product Liability Attorney in Las Vegas Today
Product-defect cases are complicated because no two products and no two defects are alike. Defective product cases often involve multiple parties, experts, and tens of thousands of documents. Manufacturers and vendors tend to be high-dollar corporations that retain sophisticated attorneys to defend them.
If you have been injured by a defective product, you need a fearless and detail-oriented product liability attorney who can advocate on your behalf. H&P Law is here to protect your rights. Contact our Las Vegas product liability attorney by phone or through our quick contact form for a 100% free consultation.
