We use consumer products without incident every day, but it only takes one mishap to affect someone’s life. If you or a loved one suffered severe injuries while using a dangerous product, you may be facing mounting financial burdens, in addition to medical challenges. Working with a Bridgeport defective products lawyer can put you in the best position to hold the liable parties accountable. Let George W. Ganim, Jr., a dependable personal injury attorney, take your case and maximize your recovery.
Potential Defendants in a Defective Products Case
All parties in the supply chain have an obligation to produce and market safe goods. The onus rests with them because they are in the best position to ensure the product is safe for public use or consumption. Connecticut General Statutes § 52-572m(a) defines “product sellers” – manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers – as those potentially liable for the harm caused by a product they helped bring to market.
Bridgeport Products Liability Theories
An injured person may establish fault by proving negligence, breach of warranty or strict liability. Many cases rely on strict liability because the theory does not require evidence of a breach of that duty like with a negligence case. Instead, a local dangerous product lawyer need only show that the product was faulty and caused harm.
Types of Defects Supporting Compensation
Defects arise in three areas: design, manufacturing and labeling. Design imperfections refer to inadequacies in the original plan, rendering the item dangerous. To succeed with this claim, a person might also have to show the availability of an alternative design.
When manufacturing mistakes lead to injuries, then that indicates that something went wrong during production, resulting in dangerous goods reaching the public. With manufacturing defects, the risk may reside in one item or entire batches, while the rest of the product remains untainted.
Failing to warn consumers of foreseeable harm, or intentionally manipulating information to increase sales also exposes product sellers to liability. Manufacturers and others in the commerce stream must properly market and label their goods, identifying potential hazards and providing adequate instructions regarding assembly and usage.
People injured by defective products should retain counsel experienced in this area so they can apply the proper legal theories and increase the prospect of receiving satisfactory compensation.
Collecting Damages for Harmful Goods
State law defines compensable harm as damage to property (including the defective product), injury to a person and wrongful death. Individuals may recover for economic and non-economic harm they sustained, including medical bills, lost wages, property damage; physical and emotional pain and suffering. Families may also recover for funeral expenses and loss of companionship under CGS § 52-555(a).
In Connecticut, an injured party may be entitled to punitive damages pursuant to CGS § 52-240b if the offender’s conduct is found to be wanton or reckless. That statute allows a punitive damage award to be twice the compensatory amount.
Defenses to a Defect Product Allegation
Although Connecticut law generally applies comparative negligence liability theory, requiring each party to accept responsibility for their role in causing the harm, this is not the case with products liability. CGS § 52-572l precludes allocating blame and applying those percentages in product liability cases. However, that statute recognizes two complete defenses to liability, which allows defendants to claim that the injured person assumed the risk because they either intentionally misused the product or used the product despite being fully aware of its defective state.
Injured parties can be better prepared to counter these arguments by having a Bridgeport defective products attorney, George W. Ganim, Jr., on their team.
Hold the Responsible Parties Liable with a Bridgeport Defective Products Attorney
In the event that you used a product that a company represented as safe and are now paying the price with severe injuries and mounting expenses, then you need to speak to a defective product lawyer as soon as possible. The cost of this unfortunate event should not be yours alone. The guidance and experience of a Bridgeport defective products lawyer can enable you to hold the designers, manufacturers and/or sellers accountable, allowing you to receive fair compensation. Schedule a free consultation with Attorney George W. Ganim, Jr. so he can start working for you.