Product Liability Lawsuits: How To Know If There Is Enough Evidence To File A Claim

Personal injury law encompasses a multitude of situations including worker's compensation claims, dog bites and automobile accidents. One of the most discussed types of lawsuits are those regarding injury from a product. These incidents often make the news because they typically involve numerous individuals who have been harmed, major corporations and the expectation of large cash awards to those who were harmed. There is much more to product liability cases than a few complaints and a large lawsuit. Anyone considering this type of claim needs to be prepared for the reality of what they will face.

How Companies Become Liable for Damages

People who are injured using a specific product or who become ill after consuming something that a company has manufactured will not automatically have a personal injury case. Plaintiffs have to be able to prove that the injury occurred because the item was either defective in design or assembly or that it was not properly labeled to keep the consumer safe. They must be able to show they were using the item properly and have verifiable injuries or losses.

Injuries Have to be Proven to be Directly Related

It is not enough to walk into a courtroom with injuries, it must be proven to be the direct result of the defective product. This is not necessarily as guaranteed as it may seem. People can break an arm, get food poisoning or burn themselves in numerous ways. This is why a class action lawsuit, one in which multiple people with the same injuries are included in one suit, are more successful than individual claims. It is much easier to convince a jury that an item really is defective when there are numerous injuries of the same type from unrelated individuals using the same product made by the same company.

Large Payouts are not Common

It is a misconception that every product liability case results in each plaintiff walking away with tens of millions of dollars. A lot of these beliefs come from a few unusual cases that make headlines, but nearly 95 percent of cases end with a settlement rather than going to court. Those plaintiffs who are able to prove their injuries in a court of law do statistically win more for their trouble than those with other types of personal injury cases. 

Tort reforms, legal caps on award amounts in lawsuits and restrictions on who can file a claim, are constantly changing state laws regarding product liability cases. Because of this and the difficulty in proving these cases, hiring an experienced law firm is always necessary. With their guidance and careful documentation of everything from the moment of injury, the victims of defective products will have the best chance for a successful outcome. Contact a company like Tiefenthaler Law Office for more information.