How Can Simmons and Fletcher’s Houston Lawyers Support Your Product Liability Case?
In the aftermath of an injury caused by a defective product, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. After all, we put our trust in the manufacturers that make the products we use to move about our daily lives. During this difficult time, we want to do everything we can to ease your burdens and make this process as straightforward as possible.
One of the lawyers at our personal injury law firm can help you by:
- Investigating your case and collecting evidence to support your story and uphold the truth;
- Negotiating with insurance companies and other representatives of the company whose product caused your injuries;
- Representing your case in court if a just settlement can’t be reached out of court;
- Supporting you throughout the legal process and answering any and all questions you may have.
If you’ve experienced a product liability injury, you have a right to safety and compensation. Take the following steps to get the support and protection you need and deserve:
- Seek medical care immediately;
- Get the contact information of any witnesses to your accident;
- Avoid talking to the company or any of its representatives (including insurance companies;
- Contact a Houston product liability lawyer as soon as possible.
What is Product Liability Law?
When a company makes and sells a product, there are certain basic consumer expectations and needs that must be met. A product must be safe for its intended use. A product must come with clear instructions on how to use it safely. If there are inherent risks associated with the use, the consumer must be warned about these risks. Product liability law is the area of personal injury law that holds product manufacturers, suppliers, and sellers to these basic duties.
How Do Common Products Trigger Product Liability Lawsuits?
Product liability typically refers to the legal responsibility of companies to manufacture safe and injury-free products for consumers. When they fail to uphold that duty of care, manufacturers may be held liable in product liability cases, like the ones we handle at Simmons & Fletcher.
There are many different types of product liability cases, but the four most common causes of product liability lawsuits include:
- Manufacturer negligence
- Design flaws (i.e. defective automobile parts)
- Inadequate warnings
- Insufficient instructions
What Are Some Common Product Liability Cases?
Defective products can occur in many different forms and across many different industries. Product defects usually boil down to design defects, manufacturing defects, or a failure to warn consumers of a risk associated with the products. At Simmons and Fletcher, some of the most common product liability cases we handle include:
- Defective airbags and other auto defects like defective seat belts and tire failures;
- Hip implant defects and other forms of defective medical manufacturing;
- Dangerous medications and medical devices;
- Child and baby products, including defective car seats and toys with choking hazards;
- Household and electronic products that may lead to fire or electrocution.
What Compensation Is Available to Product Liability Victims?
Product liability accidents can lead to a number of damages, both economic and non-economic. If you’ve experienced an injury due to a dangerous or defective product, you may be entitled to certain damages paid by the liable company or manufacturer.
A skilled and experienced product liability lawyer in Houston, TX can help you file a claim for damages such as:
- Medical expenses, including both past and future medical bills and ongoing care;
- Lost wages and loss of future income;
- Property damage to one’s home, car, or motor vehicle;
- Pain and suffering;
- Diminished quality of life;
- Loss of consortium, in the case of wrongful death.
Product liability compensation can sometimes include punitive damages, which are doled out at the discretion of a judge. While normal damages are meant to compensate the injured party for the costs they’ve incurred as a result of their accident, punitive damages are an additional amount awarded by a judge when the defendant has been particularly negligent or even malicious.
The Houston, TX legal team at Simmons and Fletcher is well-equipped to hear the details of your case and tell you exactly what damages you may be compensated for. Our hardworking product liability attorneys can help you understand your legal rights and what type of compensation you may be owed. Get started with a free case evaluation today.
What is a Manufacturing Defect?
A manufacturing defect is an error in the way a product was made. It is, essentially, a mistake in the product construction process, not a flaw in the original design. A product that ‘fails to conform to specs’ is a manufacturing defect. To prove a manufacturing defect case, the injured party must prove that there was a safe design, but that the product that was placed into the stream of commerce failed to conform to that design.
Some examples of manufacturing defect claims are:
- EpiPens that fail to inject;
- A tire whose tread does not seal properly and causes a car accident;
- Talcum powder linked to cancer.
What is a Design Defect?
A design defect is a defect in the way the product is designed. The defect is not a glitch or one-time error, it is an inherent danger in the way the product was designed. A design defect exists when there is an economically feasible safer alternative design that could have been used but was not.
Some examples of design defect claims are:
- Stryker Rejuvinate hip implants – a medical implant that can corrode and release metal shards into the body;
- Hernia Mesh – a medical device that can erode or migrate and perforate organs or reattach incorrectly;
- 3M dual-ended earplugs – military earplugs that were been too short to provide the needed level of noise protection;
- Peloton Tread Plus+ – a treadmill that may pull small children and pets under the machine causing serious injury or death;
- Firefighter foam that may potentially cause cancer.
- PFAS contamination lawsuits.
What is a Marketing Defect?
A marketing defect is when a product has a danger that is not readily apparent to the user and the manufacturer fails to provide adequate warnings or instructions to reduce the risk inherently involved in using the product. The injury must occur while the product is being used for its intended purpose or, at least for a purpose of which the manufacturer is aware it is likely to be used. Often medicines fall under this category because they contain risks that are not adequately disclosed to the patient.
Some examples of a marketing defect are:
- Toxic Baby Formula – Baby formulas and foods that increase an infant’s risks or contain dangerous levels of metals or other toxic substances;
- Hair Relaxers containing Formaldehyde – hair care products that may increase a user’s risk of developing uterine cancer;
- Video Game Addiction Lawsuits – lawsuits alleging that multi-player internet video games cause addiction and may lead to brain injuries.
- Juul Vapes – An e-cigarette that once had no warning that the product contained nicotine;
- Paraquat – An herbicide and crop desiccant banned in 32 countries due to an increased risk of Parkinson’s Disease linked to Paraquat exposure;
- Dry shampoo containing Benzene.
- Panera Bread lawsuit alleging failure to adequately warn about the high amount of caffeine in their drink.
- Talc lawsuits over failure to disclose asbestos.
- Sunscreens causing cancer.
- Facebook & Instagram lawsuits over the algorithm pushing harmful content on teens causing body dysmorphia, anorexia, and suicidal thoughts.
What Are the Challenges in Texas Product Liability Cases?
Texas product liability claims are particularly challenging because they often force injury victims to go up against large corporations and the stakes can be high—depending on the circumstances, large companies and manufacturers can stand to lose thousands or even millions of dollars. As a result, a company’s powerful corporate legal teams may do everything in their power to make the legal process more difficult for you and your representation, and your case may become even more complex if:
- The company denies any wrongdoing;
- The company hires attorneys to build an aggressive defense;
- The company hides or destroys evidence related to your case;
- More than one company is involved in your claim;
- The company’s insurance company denies your claim.
In some cases, the company’s legal representation may even try to blame you for your accident. This approach is based on a statute known as comparative negligence. The defense attorneys will claim that your own actions were a significant contributing factor to your injury. If they successfully convince a judge or trial jury that you are more than 50% responsible for your injuries, then you will not be able to recover compensation for your damages.
Whatever the specifics of your case, we encourage you to reach out to an experienced product liability attorney at Simmons and Fletcher in Houston, TX. Despite product liability accidents being some of the most complex cases handled by our firm, our team has the knowledge and resources to take on the challenges of a product liability claim.
Call our offices today for your free case evaluation.
Get the Help of a Product Liability Lawyer Who Will Fight for You
At Simmons and Fletcher, we’ve met and worked with many survivors of product liability accidents whose daily lives were disrupted by the negligence or carelessness of companies that they thought they could trust. From our point of view, each and every one of our clients deserves to have their rights protected and be fully compensated for the financial, physical, and emotional suffering they’ve endured. It’s our job to let you rest and recover while we fight for your rights and do everything we can to get you the case results that you need.
Fill out this online form to contact us and begin your journey toward compensation today. We look forward to speaking with you and hearing your story.
FAQ's
I lost a loved-one because of a defective product, am I entitled to any compensation?
First of all, we want to extend our most sincere condolences for the loss of your family member, friend, or loved one. There is no amount of compensation that can soften the blow of a loss like this, but we do hope that finding justice, in this case, can help your family move forward and give some closure to the grief you’re currently experiencing.
In a product liability wrongful death claim, the representative of the decedent’s estate may be able to recoup damages related to the decedent’s accident. According to Texas law, these family rights typically extend to a spouse, parent, or child of the deceased, although other individuals may be eligible depending on the specific case.
During wrongful death claims, the family member or estate representative may seek compensation for damages such as:
- Medical expenses;
- Funeral and burial costs;
- Lost wages and future monetary contributions of the decedent;
- Lost care, companionship, and counsel given by the decedent;
- Loss of future inheritance;
- Emotional anguish.
What is the statute of limitation in a product liability case?
Determining the statute of limitations in a product liability case has to be made on a case-by-case basis. If the product defect causes an immediate injury such as a defective machine cutting off an adult’s finger, the case goes by the state statute of limitations in the state where the incident happened or where the manufacturer is based.
If the product causes an injury that cannot be discovered until later, such as a drug that causes cancer over time, the statute of limitations will often be subject to a discovery rule that extends the statute of limitations until the injury should be discovered.
Also, if the injured party is a child there will be an extension on the statute of limitations until the child reaches the age of majority. This is why it is wise to talk to a product liability attorney about your case to determine your sol.
