Springfield, Missouri, Injury Lawyers Successfully Handle Product Liability Claims

Helping you obtain compensation for injuries caused by defective products

Manufacturers, distributors and retailers are required to make sure that products meet certain safety standards. Yet dangerous and defective products — from children’s toys to automobiles — still harm thousands of American consumers every year. If you or someone you love has experienced an injury from a defective product, you may be entitled to compensation. The injury lawyers of Lowther Johnson Attorneys at Law, LLC successfully have handled a wide variety of product liability claims. We can investigate your claim and help you obtain the compensation you deserve.

What is product liability?

Product liability is an area of law that holds designers, manufacturers and retailers accountable for the injuries suffered by buyers and users of defective products. It also allows injury victims to recover compensation for losses associated with the use of a defective product.

Product liability claims can involve any number of consumer products. Some of the most common include:

• Auto defects — Examples include seat belt failures, rollover risks, engine fires and faulty brakes.
• Unsafe children’s products — Examples include bath seats that can tip over, unsafe clothing with drawstrings and toys that fail to meet lead safety standards.
• Dangerous medical products — Examples of defective drugs and medical devices include faulty pacemakers, unreliable hip and knee replacement devices, and medications like Accutane, Yasmin/Yaz and Celebrex.

In many cases, product liability may also overlap with other areas of law, such as personal injury law and medical malpractice. For example, a victim of a motorcycle accident may have a claim against both a negligent driver and the maker of a defective helmet that failed to protect him from head injury during a crash.

Types of product liability claims

At Lowther Johnson Attorneys at Law, LLC, we handle a wide variety of product liability claims. However, they generally fall into one of three categories:

• Manufacturing defects — The product is flawed due to a problem during the construction or production of the item. For instance, a machine in the factory malfunctioned causing the wheels of a stroller not to be attached properly.
• Design defects — The product is inherently dangerous or defective due to its design. So even if the product is manufactured carefully, it will still pose a danger to consumers. An example would include a poorly designed car susceptible to roof crush during a rollover accident.
• Marketing defects — The product is not labeled or marketed adequately to consumers. Examples include improper directions regarding proper use, misleading product labels or insufficient warnings about the dangers of the product.

Obtaining compensation for injuries caused by a defective product

In Missouri, an injury victim can pursue a defective product claim under one or more of the following theories: strict liability, negligence and breach of warranty. Strict liability is most favorable to the plaintiff because it imposes liability for defective products unreasonably dangerous to the intended user regardless of whether the defendant used all possible care in the manufacture, distribution or sale of the product.

Under strict liability, an injury victim generally must prove the following elements:

• The defect rendered the product unreasonably dangerous when used as reasonably anticipated
• The defendant sold the product in the course of its business
• The plaintiff used the product in a reasonably anticipated manner
• The defect was the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries

To increase the chances of obtaining full recovery in a product liability lawsuit, injury victims generally can pursue legal action against all the companies in the supply chain, including the manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer. Compensation may cover medical expenses, lost wages, loss of physical capacity and pain and suffering.

Consult with an experienced Springfield law firm about your product liability claim

If you or a loved one has suffered an injury due to a defective product, contact an experienced injury attorney at Lowther Johnson Attorneys at Law, LLC today. Relying on more than 25 years of legal experience, we are equipped to take on powerful companies and obtain the compensation you deserve.

Call our offices today at (417) 557-3407 or contact us online to schedule a free initial consultation.