Millions of Americans suffer injuries from consumer products every year. These incidents include everything from falling TVs and defective tires to dangerous children’s toys and unsafe prescription drugs. While some of these injuries stem from user error or carelessness, many are the result of product defects, and holding manufacturers accountable for defective products involves significant legal challenges.
The Albany, GA, product liability attorneys at Parker Trial Law can help you seek fair compensation for injuries caused by a dangerous product. Since 2016, our firm has provided aggressive representation for people like you and helped them recover the money they need to rebuild their lives after a product injured them.
While other lawyers prefer to settle, our firm’s focus is taking negligent companies to court, as we know a trial is often the only way to obtain fair compensation. We take a forceful approach to product liability cases but treat our clients like family and provide ongoing support long after your case concludes.
Call us today or complete our contact form for a free consultation with an Albany, GA, product liability lawyer.
Why Should You Hire an Albany, GA, Product Liability Law Firm?
A product liability lawyer in Albany, GA, is an indispensable ally and guide for anyone seeking fair compensation for their injuries. While your priority after sustaining a severe injury is to heal, it’s also crucial to protect your legal rights and act quickly to pursue the money you deserve. A defective product lawyer can handle all the legal work in your case for you, allowing you to concentrate on getting better and rebuilding your life.
Hiring an Albany, GA, product liability law firm like Parker Trial Law also means you benefit from extensive knowledge and experience. For example, people often accept low settlement offers because they don’t know how much their claim is worth and overlook their future needs. A product liability attorney can use your medical records and other evidence to fully evaluate your current and future expenses and then make sure any settlement offer you receive accounts for all your losses.
Similarly, Georgia product liability lawyers know the tactics manufacturers and their insurance companies use to deny claims or reduce your compensation. A knowledgeable attorney from Parker Trial Law can craft a strategy to counter these tactics, giving you the strongest chance of recovering maximum compensation.
What Is Product Liability?
“Product liability” is the responsibility of any entity or party in a product’s chain of manufacture for any harm that product causes. If you are harmed by a product when you used it as intended, the people who brought the product to the public are liable for your injuries. Potentially liable parties could include:
- The maker of parts included in a product
- The assembler of the product
- The wholesaler
- The retailer
One critical thing to know about product liability law in Georgia is that strict liability applies in these cases. Strict liability means someone who files a product liability claim does not have to prove their injuries resulted from a company’s negligence or carelessness. All that matters is whether the following conditions all apply:
- The product had a defect when someone sustained an injury from using it
- The defect caused the user’s injury or death
- The product was in essentially the same condition as when it left the manufacturer
- The user used the product as the manufacturer intended
What Compensation Could I Recover for Defective Product Injuries?
Your potential compensation in a defective product claim depends on the injuries you sustained, any long-term effects they might have, the economic impact of your injuries, and other factors. With help from a capable product liability attorney, your compensation could include money for:
- Current and future medical expenses
- Lost income from missing work
- Pain and suffering
- Reduced future earnings due to an injury or disability
- Diminished quality of life due to an injury or disability
- Damaged personal property (if applicable)
What Should I Do if a Defective Product Hurts Me?
It’s crucial to seek immediate medical treatment after sustaining a defective product injury and to follow your doctor’s orders. Once you’ve sought medical treatment, follow these steps to protect your legal rights:
- Save the Product and Its Packaging – The product itself is a crucial piece of evidence in a product liability case, as you can use it to show the defect and how it caused your injuries. The product’s packaging is also important because it often contains warnings and instructions that may be critical for your case, particularly if the manufacturer didn’t properly list the product’s potential risks.
- Document Everything – Make copies of your medical records so you can show what injuries you’ve sustained and how they impact your daily life. Similarly, save all your receipts, as these records help demonstrate the financial toll your injuries have had on your life. Finally, write down everything you can remember about the incident so you can refer to your notes later as your memories fade.
- Report the Defect – Let the manufacturer know you’ve sustained an injury and intend to file a claim, but leave it at that so you don’t say anything they could use against you. Do not sign any documents from the manufacturer or agree to a settlement without talking to a lawyer first.
- Contact a Product Liability Attorney – A product liability lawyer can gather evidence to support your claim, handle the necessary paperwork, and protect your rights and interests during settlement negotiations. The sooner you speak to a lawyer, the more they can do for you.
Who Is Liable if I Am Injured or Damaged by a Defective Product?
The most commonly liable parties in a product liability case are the product’s manufacturer and designer (assuming these are different companies, which isn’t always the case). Determining which entity is liable depends on the defect’s nature.
For example, if the manufacturer used substandard parts to make the product, and the product malfunctioned, the maker of the parts might be liable for your injuries. On the other hand, if there’s something wrong with the product’s basic design but the manufacturer didn’t do anything wrong, the company that designed the product might be liable.
An attorney from Parker Trial Law can go through the evidence to identify where liability for your injuries lies.
What Are Common Examples of Defective Products?
Some common examples of defective products include:
- Defective Auto Parts – Defective tires, brakes, engine parts, and other critical components can fail and cause drivers to lose control, leading to a collision. Similarly, defective car seats might not properly restrain young children when accidents occur, leading to catastrophic or fatal injuries.
- Dangerous Medications or Medical Devices – When pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers rush their products to market, they may miss or fail to inform doctors and patients of potential side effects. These marketing defects can lead to severe, potentially fatal medical complications.
- Unsafe Children’s Toys – Infants and toddlers can sustain severe injuries or die from swallowing small parts of their toys.
- Household Appliances – Faulty wiring in appliances like toasters, space heaters, and blenders can cause fires and other accidents.
- Power Tools – Construction workers and others who use power tools can sustain severe electrical shocks and other injuries if their tools have faulty wiring or defective batteries that might explode or malfunction.
What Are the Different Kinds of Defective Product Liability Claims?
There are three main types of product liability claims:
- Design Defect – When a product has a design defect, it means there’s something about its design that makes it inherently dangerous. One sadly common example of design defects is children’s toys that include small parts that a child might swallow, leading to severe medical complications or death.
- Manufacturing Defect – In some cases, a product’s design is fine, but something about how it was made makes it dangerous. Faulty car parts are a common example of manufacturing defects, as the issue with these products is usually the components used to make them instead of the design.
- Marketing Defect – A marketing defect occurs when a product’s manufacturer fails to warn consumers of potential risks involved in using the product. Many product liability claims related to dangerous medications involve marketing defects, as pharmaceutical companies don’t always warn doctors and patients of potential side effects.
What If a Family Member Dies as a Result of a Defective Product?
If you live in Georgia and a family member died from using a defective product, you can file a wrongful death lawsuit to hold the manufacturer accountable. Wrongful death cases involve complicated legal issues and strong emotions, so it’s vital to work with an experienced attorney from Parker Trial Law who can provide the comprehensive legal and moral support you need.
How Long Do I Have to File a Defective Product Liability Claim in Georgia?
The standard deadline to file a product liability lawsuit in Georgia is two years from when you sustained your injuries. If someone in your family died from using a defective product, you have two years from the date they died to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
