Product Liability
Product liability is different from regular personal injury law. In general, injuries from defective products give rise to claims based on strict liability, negligence, and breach of warranty. The available claims may vary depending on the state law that is applicable. It is essential to have any potential product liability case reviewed by a lawyer with experience handling product liability claims.
Product Liability Law In Georgia
In Georgia, the two primary legal theories used to hold manufacturers liable are strict liability and negligence.
Strict liability law allows the plaintiff to recover for damages caused by a defective product without proving negligence. Instead, the consumer has to prove that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer. A product may be defective due to its design or due to a manufacturing defect.
Design defects include the configuration of the product, the materials selected, and the warnings placed on the product. For example, the manufacturer may have designed a vehicle with a roof that is not strong enough to withstand an ordinary rollover collision. Or a manufacturer may have produced a product using materials that are not sufficient for the application. A warning defect occurs when the manufacturer fails to adequately warn against known or reasonably foreseeable risks posed by the product.
By contrast, a manufacturing defect is a non-conforming product. A manufacturing defect occurs when the manufacturer produces a product that deviates from the manufactures own specifications and is defective as a result. For example, a company that manufactures tires may produce a tire with foreign materials trapped between components, which prevents the rubber from bonding and leads to tread separation on the highway. The tire produced does not comply with the manufacturer’s own specifications and is dangerous.
Product manufacturers that sell or distribute defective products are strictly liable for the injuries caused by their products.
A wide variety of products, including automobiles and their components, tires, all-terrain vehicles (including UTVs, ATVs, and 4-wheelers), household appliances, industrial machines and materials, drugs and medical devices, and other products, may be defective and cause serious injury or death.
If you or a loved one has been injured by a product, please call The Parrish Law Firm at 404-891-0141 for a free consultation.
