Product Liability and Negligence – Explained
Product liability lawsuits are generally brought under one or more of these 5 theories, which in legal terminology, are called causes of action:
(1) Defective manufacture;
(2) Defective design;
(3) Failure to warn;
(4) Negligence; and,
(5) Breach of warranty.
In personal injury lawsuits based on negligence, the elements that the plaintiff should to prove on this cause of action mirror those set forth in the first three causes of action. The main difference between this cause of action and the others is that the negligence claim is stated in a little different, and easier terms, i.e., the defendant will be responsible as the manufacturer did not adopt reasonable measures to make their product safer.
A manufacturer should warn consumers about the likely, or hidden, dangers that are associated with a buyers foreseeable use of the product — even if the particular use is not the intended one, and even if the product is not otherwise defective. In order to prevail on this theory, the claimant must to establish that if sufficient warnings had been provided, the injury would not have occurred. As a practical matter, this burden is often difficult to meet, because the defenses to this claim are generally very formidable.
Someone injured by a product is not automatically entitled to be awarded damages. There are terrible misconceptions that the people have about products liability claims.
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