Defective Products

At home, at work, and on the job, we rely on hundreds of products to help accomplish tasks and provide entertainment. We rarely stop to think that a product may be defective and unsafe. Unfortunately, that is too often the case. If you or a member of your family suffered an injury caused by a manufacturing or design defect, you may be entitled to compensation through a products liability lawsuit.

Defective or Dangerous products include:

At Coker, Schickel, Sorenson & Posgay, our attorneys have extensive experience in pursuing claims on behalf of clients injured by dangerous and defective products. Our attorneys’ and support staffs’ skill, professionalism and access to scientific experts, are responsible for our three decades of success in recovering large and appropriate recoveries for clients.

The manufacturer and distributor of any type of product is responsible for any injury caused by a defect, including a design defect, manufacturing defect, marketing defect, failure to warn or failure to provide an appropriate guard. Our firm is prepared to handle claims involving a broad range of defective products, including defective clothing, flammable fabrics, firearms, recreation products, mechanical products, food, agricultural products and dangerous chemicals leading to toxic torts claims.

A manufacturer or seller of a defective product may be liable to a person injured by that defect. This branch of personal injury law is called “products liability.” There are a number of possible legal claims related to injury from a defective product. These include negligence, breach of warranty, and strict liability. In each of these claims, there are certain factors that must be present in order for the claim to be valid. These factors are:

  • The defendant manufactured or sold the product.
  • The product was defective and/or did not function properly.
  • The defective product caused damage to a person or property.
  • The defect existed at the time the product left the hands of the manufacturer or seller.

The basic premise of the strict product liability doctrine is that a manufacturer or distributor of a product is responsible for injuries caused by defects in that product. Courts have held that there are three separate types of defects:

  • Design defects
  • Manufacturing defects
  • Defects in warnings or instructions

If an injured victim can establish that such a defect was a proximate cause of the injury suffered, then the manufacturer or distributor will be held liable to compensate the victim for his or her damages. In order to recover for an injury caused by a defective product the victim must have been using the product for its intended or foreseeable use. In other words, typically, if the product is being used in a manner contrary to the manufacturer’s warnings and instructions when the injury occurs, then the manufacturer will have a defense to a strict product liability claim.

Coker, Schickel, Sorenson & Posgay attorneys have successfully handled numerous cases involving defective consumer products, household products, automotive products, medical devices and drugs, machinery and equipment and recreational products.

Product liability suits are typically complex and expensive because the manufacturer defendants are typically large corporations with enormous resources. Taking on a large manufacturer in court is no simple task. Products liability cases are expensive and often require specialized, technical expertise. Our attorneys work with nationally recognized experts across a wide range of fields in order to build our clients’ cases. We retain teams of experts in a variety of disciplines such as product design safety, materials and failure analysis, accident reconstruction, metallurgy, and human factors. These experts are able to locate and identify defective design features and manufacturing flaws that caused injury under conditions of foreseeable use, as well as safer alternative design and manufacturing methods.

To be successful against the complexities of a product liability suit brought against large and resourceful defendants, you need a team of passionate, dedicated and experienced trial attorneys like the ones at Coker, Schickel, Sorenson & Posgay.