Your lawyer must establish a direct link between the breach of duty (defective product) and the injuries that you sustained. The attorney must show that the defect was a substantial factor in causing the harm, connecting the defendant's actions or omissions to the resulting injuries.
There are three types of product defects: design defects, manufacturing defects, and warning/instruction defects. All three types of defects have to do with a product being faulty or inadequate in some way.
A toy box was defectively manufactured – the hinges were not installed properly on the lid. If a child is playing with the box and the lid closes too quickly because of the defective hinges, it can cause serious injuries to the child.
When a product is defective, it means that the product has some kind of flaw or problem that makes it unreasonably dangerous to use. A product may be defective because of poor design, manufacturing errors, or a failure to warn consumers about potential dangers.
Under California state law, anyone who is responsible for developing, manufacturing, or distributing merchandise of any kind bears responsibility if that merchandise is inherently defective, lacked sufficient instructions on proper usage, or was improperly manufactured.
Product liability is one part of tort law that holds companies accountable for a defective product when it causes harm to another person. The defect is often the result of negligence when designing, making, and selling a product. Successful product liability claims rest on showing that: The company acted negligently.
Generally, to prove product liability you must prove that an inherent defect or misinformation within the product caused the damages claimed. In other words, the plaintiff must prove that the product was inherently defective and that the defect in the product has caused injury or damage.
To successfully sue for a defective product, you need to prove that: The defendant designed, manufactured, distributed or sold a defective product to the consumer. The consumer used reasonable care when using the product. The consumer was injured due to the defect in the product.