Southaven & Hernando Product Liability Lawyer

Woman touching her neck after airbags open up, product liability

If you have been injured by a product that is dangerous or defective, the company that designed, manufactured, or sold that product may be responsible for your injuries. This area of law is known as product liability.

At the law firm of Chatham Gilder Howell Pittman, our lawyers represent people who have been injured by consumer and industrial products. We offer a free initial consultation to review your case and discuss your options.

What Constitutes a Defective Product?

Companies have a responsibility to design products that are reasonably free of defects that can cause injury or death to the person who uses it. If a danger cannot be designed out of a product, then the manufacturer has a duty to warn consumers.

Product liability laws cover a wide range of personal injury cases, including:

  • Defective auto parts such as airbags, seat belts, gas tanks and door latches that fail in an accident
  • Saws, presses, punches, and other industrial equipment that lack safety features such as kill switches or which allow the operator to get his hand stuck in the equipment
  • Dangerous prescription drugs
  • Dangerous children’s toys such as toys containing lead or choking hazards
  • Defective batteries that explode, causing burns, eye injuries, or other catastrophic injuries
  • Products that contain inadequate warnings about potential hazards
  • Chemical products such as Deer Cane, which has serious side effects

If you have been injured by a defective product, it’s important to save the product so it can be examined by experts.

How Do You Prove Product Liability?

When you file an injury claim against a product manufacturer, they will throw every resource they have at your claim to make it go away without paying you a dime. You need to be ready to counteract their aggressive tactics with solid, convincing proof that a defect with their product is what caused your injury and damages. What can you do to prove your case in a product liability claim or lawsuit?

To start, you should always keep the defective product in your possession until it has been examined by engineers and product experts and your attorney clears it to be sent back to the product maker. In many cases, the product will never go back to the manufacturer because it is not their property any longer and they could tamper with it to try to invalidate your claim.

Next, your medical records can be a helpful source to prove not just your injuries but also how they happened. Your doctor’s notes could detail what they believed to cause a burn injury, laceration, organ damage, and so forth, and coincide with your explanation of the product’s defect. To get a copy of your medical records, you will likely need to pay HIPAA fees, which can be added to the damages you seek in compensation.

Lastly, to prove a product liability claim, your attorney will want to use available evidence to determine just how the product was defective. There are generally three types of product defects:

  • Design defects
  • Marketing defects
  • Manufacturing defects

There are design defects that make a product defective before it was even produced, manufacturing defects that occur while the product is being made, and marketing defects that make a product dangerous by misinforming consumers about how to use it or its potential side effects.

Contact Our DeSoto County Product Liability Attorney

For a free and confidential consultation, contact our product liability attorneys. There are no fees unless we recover compensation for you.

Chatham Gilder Howell Pittman helps those who have a product liability claim throughout Northern Mississippi including the cities of Southaven and Hernando as well as the counties of DeSoto, Marshall, Tate, and Tunica.