Abilene Defective Product Liability Attorney
HOW OUR ABILENE PRODUCT LIABILITY LAWYER CAN HELP
After an injury from an unsafe product, you may not even realize that you have a potential product liability case. The product liability personal injury lawyers at Hanna Allen, PLLC can examine the facts of your situation and see if there are violations of Texas law and what compensation you may be entitled to.
Under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 82, product liability is a strict liability offense. This means you do not have to prove that the defendant you are suing was negligent. It is enough to show that the product was defective and that this defect caused you harm.
To prove liability, your attorney will need to show the following:
- The product is defective.
- The product got to you without a substantial change in condition.
- The defect in the product made it unreasonably dangerous.
- The defect caused you harm (called “damages”).
Who Can Be Held Liable in a Product Liability Case?
Depending on the circumstances, if you have been injured by a defective product, you may be able to seek compensation from more than one responsible party. Your product liability lawyer will examine how the product was manufactured and distributed and will hold all parties accountable and liable for the damages you received. Responsible parties may include:
Manufacturers and designers: The actual manufacturer of the item or its parts may be liable, as can parties involved in the design or marketing of the product.
Retailers: Retailers are held responsible for ensuring that products they promote for sale are safe and suitable for use. Anyone who sells a defective product can be held liable for damages.
Wholesalers: The wholesalers, who are “middlemen” between the manufacturer and the retailer, may also be held liable.
Since each of these parties may have insurance for product liability, it is to your benefit to include all of them in your lawsuit.
Texas Laws Affecting Your Product Liability Case
Our Abilene product liability attorney must ensure that all legal processes are carried out according to Texas laws. These include:
- Statute of Limitations – This is a deadline or time limit for filing a claim in court. You have two years to file a product liability lawsuit from the time you were injured or discovered the injury.
- Statute of Repose – This s an overall time limit for when these suits must be filed if it took years for you to discover that you were injured from a defective product or for the defect to show up. In Texas, you have to file your claim within 15 years of the date of sale of the product. You may have additional time if the injury or disease took time to show up or for symptoms to manifest, or if the manufacturer gave you a warranty longer than 15 years on the product.
Contact Our Abilene Product Liability Attorneys for Help
Texas laws regarding product liability are complex, but the experienced Abilene product liability lawyers at Hanna Allen, PLLC can evaluate your situation and determine the best way to proceed. We can handle all the legal aspects, gather evidence and investigate the case, hire expert witnesses, negotiate with insurance companies and their lawyers, and take your case to trial if necessary, to get you the compensation you deserve.
We offer a free initial consultation to examine the facts of your case and show you how we can help. There is no obligation, and you pay nothing unless and until we successfully get you a settlement.
Call Hanna Allen, PLLC today at (325) 440-9996 to learn more.
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Our FAQ
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What damages does a product liability lawyer may recover?In a successful product liability lawsuit, your attorney may recover an award, called “damages,” for the injuries and losses you have suffered. This includes an amount to compensate for your economic and non-economic losses, and, in some circumstances, there may be punitive damages as well. Economic, or Special Damages This is an award to cover your monetary, calculable out-of-pocket expenses or financial losses for expenses that include: Medical, pharmaceutical, hospital, and rehabilitation bills Lost wages, current and future Cost to repair or replace damaged property. Non-economic or General Damages These are payments that go directly to you as compensation for the pain and suffering and negative effects on your lifestyle caused by the defective product. Non-economic damages are less easily calculated, but they typically include compensation for: Pain and suffering Mental and emotional anguish Loss of consortium and negative effects on your marital relationship Loss of life’s enjoyment. For example, if a back injury from an automobile accident caused by a defective product left you paralyzed, economic damages would cover the cost of medical bills and therapy; non-economic damages would compensate you for the past, present, and future pain and suffering resulting from your injury. Punitive or Exemplary Damages These are damages awarded on rare occasions as a penalty to punish a defendant for gross negligence and reckless actions and to discourage this type of offense from happening again. Punitive damages are capped at the larger of: $200,000 or two times the amount of economic damages plus an equal amount of non-economic damages, with a maximum of $750,000.
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What are the types of defects for a product injury lawsuit?In a product injury lawsuit, your product injury lawyer must show that one of the following three types of defects caused you harm: 1. Design defects Design defects occur when something in the design of the product has an unnecessary risk of causing injury or death to someone using it. Not every product that can cause harm is defective. Some products, such as a chain saw, for example, can obviously be dangerous if not used correctly, but this is due to their nature and not some design defect. To prove that the design is defective, your attorney must show that . . . The manufacturer could have used a less dangerous design. The alternate design would have been reasonable financially and technologically. The alternate design would have reduced the risk of injury but still kept most of the product’s usefulness. You were injured from the design defect. Examples of design defects include: Airbags that shoot metal fragments into the body when they inflate Medical mesh that causes deadly infections when implanted in the body Child safety seats that do not fasten correctly and can become dislodged. 2. Marketing defects Marketing defects occur when the manufacturer does not provide proper warnings or instructions about how to use the product to reduce risks. Manufacturers are required to provide warning labels or statements if the product has an unexpected danger that is not obvious or if it must be used a certain way to be safe. To prove marketing defects, your attorney would show that: The manufacturer failed to warn you of risks of the product that would not be obvious to a reasonable person. The manufacturer failed to provide instructions for safe use. You were injured due to this failure of labeling or instructions. If the labeling or design of a product complies with federal regulations, your attorney would have to show that the regulations were inadequate or that the manufacturer withheld product information that may have affected its approval. Some products, such as prescription drugs, for example, have risks and side effects by their nature, but they are still prescribed because the physician determines that the benefits outweigh the risks. However, if the drug manufacturer failed to warn about risks, failed to provide information about risks to the FDA, or a safer alternative could be used, it is possible that the medication could be found to be dangerous in a product liability case.
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What are manufacturing defects?These are errors that occur during the production process of the product, even if the design and labeling were correct. Manufacturing defects usually are caused by errors in quality control or production and may not occur in every identical item produced. This category includes defects that occur because a seller modifies a product substantially in a way that makes it unsafe. Our Abilene product liability attorney at Hanna Law will work to show that your injuries were caused by a product that had one of these three defects. Call (432) 220-2649 today so we can start gathering information to prove your case.
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