Dangerous Consumer Products

All types of consumer products can give rise to products liability lawsuits if their design, manufacture, or a failure to warn causes injury. Beyond dangerous drugs, defective medical devices, toxic chemicals, food, auto and kid's products, general goods which people buy and use everyday can sometimes cause injuries for which manufacturers, along with retailers and parties along the supply chain can be held liable.Product liability lawsuits differ from most types of personal injury claims. Instead of concentrating on the defendants treatment of the specific plaintiff, they involve proving that the manufacturer, retailer, distributer or supplier produced or mishandled a product either inherently unsafe, unsafe due to mishandling or contamination after production, or unsafe due to a lack of proper instruction or warning to consumers about risks associated with the product. In order to recover in a products liability, the product must be unsafe when used in the manner for which it was intended, and must not have been substantially modified from its original form. It can be a defense to product liability claims that the user of the product was aware of the defect yet proceeded to use the product anyway.In addition to product liability lawsuits, plaintiffs can sometimes recover for injuries from dangerous products through simple negligence lawsuits, as well as breach of warranty lawsuits aimed at either express or implied warranties by product makers that their goods will be fit and safe for their intended purpose. When toxic chemicals and materials are part of a product, recovery may come through what is known as "toxic tort" litigation.This section provides overviews of various consumer products that have been the subject of product liability lawsuits.