Maryland Product Liability Attorney

“Products liability” is a field of personal injury law that deals with defective and dangerous products and the injuries these products can cause consumers. Victims of various dangers and defects with auto parts, pharmaceuticals, household appliances, toys, and other products may be entitled to seek compensation from the manufacturer if they suffer medical expenses and other damages because of the dangerous product.

If you or a loved one was injured by a dangerous or defective product, call the Maryland product liability attorneys at Rice, Murtha & Psoras today. Our attorneys can meet with you in a free, confidential legal consultation to go over your potential case and help you understand if you have a case against a company that manufactured a dangerous or defective product. To set up your free consultation, call us today at (410) 694-7291.

Types of Product Liability Claims in Maryland

If you were injured by a product or item you purchased, you may be entitled to sue the manufacturer of that item. the way that the case will proceed and what facts will be important to the claim vary from case to case, but these claims typically fall into one of the following categories:

Manufacturing Defect Lawsuits

Many product injuries are caused by problems with the way that the product was assembled or built at the factory. If the manufacturer missed a screw, installed a broken component, failed to properly secure a part, or substituted an inferior material at the factory, the product could become dangerous. If you were hurt by a manufacturing defect like this, you may be entitled to sue the manufacturer for deviating from the design and causing your injuries through their negligence. In most cases, you may need to save the defective product because you will need it to help prove what was wrong or broken.

Design Defect Lawsuits

In other cases, the product may have been designed in a way that makes it more dangerous than it should be. Design defects can often involve structural weaknesses or problems with how the product was tested and created that allowed a weakness or danger into the final product. With these cases, all products of the same design will carry the same flaw, so you may be able to use other defective products from the same line to prove the issue to a jury.

Failure to Warn Lawsuits

Many products have warning stickers on them when they come out of the box, or they have warnings on the box and in the instruction manual. These warnings are there to prevent people from being injured in common ways. If a product has an unavoidable danger in its design, such as the sharp blades on a lawnmower or the exposed heating elements on a toaster or hairdryer, warnings are used to prevent injuries. If a product has an inherent danger that does not carry an adequate warning, you may be able to sue for injuries the danger causes. Some products are obviously dangerous and might not need a warning, such as a knife, but other products may need bold, visible warnings to prevent avoidable injuries.

In some cases, warnings must also be given for ways you can be injured through improper use. If it is predictable that a product might be misused in a dangerous way – such as operating a gas grill indoors – a warning might be required to help protect consumers, even if they are using it in a way it was not actually designed for. Again, a failure to warn could be grounds for a lawsuit against the product manufacturer.

Suing for Product Injuries in Maryland

If a product manufacturer’s failure to warn, design defects, or manufacturing defects caused you or a loved one serious injury, you may be entitled to file a lawsuit. Many products – even simple home appliances – can be responsible for surprisingly serious injuries or death. If you faced injuries because of a manufacturer’s negligence, you may be entitled to damages to cover the care costs and other financial harms you faced because of the product injury. Similarly, if you lost a loved one to a defective appliance, a defective piece of equipment, or a deadly toy, you may be entitled to substantial compensation to pay for your loss.

Damages for medical expenses are one of the primary damages that injury victims claim in product injury cases. These damages are used to cover the expenses related to emergency medical treatment, follow-up appointments, rehabilitation, physical therapy, and other costs for medical care and mental health treatment.

If you lost wages or missed work because of your injuries, the product manufacturer may be responsible for those economic harms as well. This can include wages lost because of injuries you faced in the workplace from defective safety gear as well as injuries you sustained outside of work; the manufacturer is still responsible for the economic harms their dangerous products caused no matter the context of the injury.

Damages can also be claimed for pain and suffering from an injury. Although these damages might not be easily shown on a financial statement or bill, they can still be claimed as damages in court by using your testimony as evidence.

Damages for the death of a loved one can often be more substantial, covering funeral and burial costs alongside other damages, such as lost companionship, lost household services, and other economic and non-economic damages.

Call Our Maryland Lawyers for Dangerous and Defective Product Injury Lawsuits

If you or a member of your family was injured by a dangerous product design, negligent manufacturing defect, or failure to warn about dangers with a product, you might be entitled to sue the manufacturer of the product for damages. These damages can go a long way toward supporting you and your family in the aftermath of a serious injury or death. For a free legal consultation on your case, call Rice, Murtha & Psoras today at (410) 694-7291.