What Defenses do Manufacturers Use in Product Liability Cases?

When a product is bad or defective, the good news is that the law is generally favorable allowing victims of damaged products to get recovery for their injuries. But the law also allows manufacturers and retailers who are sued for products liability, to assert defenses to product liability claims, some of which can be persuasive and powerful.

Strict Liability

If you’re filing a product liability claim, the manufacturer and anybody else liable, has strict liability. This means that they are assumed to have done something wrong. You still have to prove your injuries, and that they are caused by the defective product, and that the product was defective.

But you don’t have to show that the manufacturer knew the product was dangerous, or show that it acted negligently or carelessly. It doesn’t matter if they did or didn’t know anything in a strict liability case.

Misusing Products

But there are defenses. One common defense is what is known as misuse of a product.

We all use products every day in ways that they are not intended to be used.

If a consumer uses a product in a way that the manufacturer can anticipate or foresee that it will be used, then this is not a valid defense; manufactures will not be able to avoid liability.

So, for example, in a real world example, Ikea dressers were collapsing when small children climbed on them. Are dressers supposed to be climbed on? Of course not. But it is and was foreseeable to Ikea, that young children do those things, and thus, Ikea was liable for the dressers’ inability to stand upright, when small kids would climb on them.

Misuse often happens when people don’t read product labels or instructions. Yes, they can be tedious, and sometimes, glaringly obvious. Yes, you “already know how to use this thing.” But should a consumer misuse a product because he or she didn’t read instructions, the manufacturer will have misuse as a defense in any product liability claim.

Assumption of Risk

Sometimes we knowingly use a dangerous or defective product. We assume the risk.

Imagine a ladder that is shaky and which is bending. You need to change a light, so you figure, you’ll be fine, and you use it anyway…and then disaster happens.

Whether out of laziness or convenience, many of us will accept the danger of a defective product. When we do, the manufacturer can say that we have assumed the risk of the dangers.

Assumption of risk also applies when we use a product that is, by its nature, dangerous—it has to be dangerous. Heavy machinery, power tools, and a number of other things, can harm you if you’re not careful.

Alterations to Products

It’s natural to fix things ourselves, or want to modify them. We add things and “rig” products to make them work better, or work at all.

But when we do, we’re altering the original design of the product. Manufacturers can use your alterations, to say that they aren’t liable for your injuries when the product injures you—you made the product dangerous by way of your alterations or modifications.

Injured by a dangerous or defective product? Call the Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200 for help and a free consultation.

Sources:

lawecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2500&context=luclj

lawshelf.com/videocoursesmoduleview/defenses-to-product-liability-actions–module-5-of-5/