Fort Lauderdale Product Liability Lawyer: Defective Product Lawsuit

Fort Lauderdale Product Liability Lawyer

When you buy a new product, you have every right to expect that the appropriate safety measures were taken during every step of design, manufacturing, and distribution in order to give you the safest experience possible. However, there are some nuances to this situation, since injuries resulting from normal use of a product is likely not covered under a product liability case. Essentially, you may have a case if a product fails to work in the way that it is intended to work and it causes you an injury, or if the manufacturer failed to warn you of the inherent dangers of using their product.

If you have been injured while using a product and you believe that the manufacturer (or someone else along the supply chain) is liable for your injuries, then contact the team at Friedland & Associates as soon as possible to schedule a free initial consultation. During your consultation with our product liability lawyers in Fort Lauderdale, we will be able to go over the basics of your situation, including the type of product in question, the injuries that you sustained, the impact that your injuries have had on your life, and more. In addition, we will be able to answer questions about how we can work with you to get you the money that you rightfully deserve, and give examples of past clients that we have helped in similar situations as your own.

Read more below to get a general idea of what to expect in a product liability case, and contact us now for your free initial consultation.

What Is a Product Liability Lawsuit?

Another common term used to describe many product liability cases in Fort Lauderdale and nationwide is a “defective product” lawsuit, and although this term is applicable for many different situations, it does not cover the entire spectrum of possible lawsuits. Essentially, a product liability lawsuit of any kind—regarding defective products or not—posits that the seller or manufacturer owed the plaintiff a duty to keep their product safe for use and that the user was injured as a result of the seller or manufacturer’s failure to provide a safe product.

There are three different types of product liability cases:

Negligence

The defendant (seller, manufacturer, distributor, another party in the supply chain) failed in their duty to provide a reasonably safe experience for the user because of negligence or recklessness.

Strict Liability

The defendant in the case is liable for the defendant’s injuries regardless of whether or not the defendant acted (or failed to act) in a certain way in order to maximize their own safety.

Breach of Warranty

If a product was sold to a user with certain warranties, and these warranties turn out to be false and the user is injured as a result.

These types of lawsuits can be complicated, and determining who to file a claim against, the type of claim to file, and the best way to proceed with your case is with an experienced product liability lawyer in Fort Lauderdale.

Working With an Attorney After a Product Liability Injury

If you were injured in the course of the normal use of a product and you believe that the seller, manufacturer, or distributor is responsible for your injuries, then you will benefit from the legal support of a product liability lawyer in the Fort Lauderdale area who is familiar with these types of cases in Florida. The team at Friedland & Associates is available to discuss your situation during a free initial consultation as soon as possible.

When you first decide to seek compensation from a party who is responsible for your injuries, whether in a car accident, medical malpractice case, or any other personal injury case, you need to decide the best way to move forward. This could begin with a series of negotiations with the defendant, their insurance company, or their legal team in order to work towards an out-of-court settlement. In many cases, product manufacturers and distributors are interested in working through settlement negotiations in order to avoid the harmful media that comes with a full lawsuit for a faulty product.

If you are unable to reach an agreement, or if the defendant is unwilling to negotiate, you may need to then move forward with filing a claim with the Florida courts, at which point you and your Fort Lauderdale product liability lawyer will begin to prepare for trial. Before a trial, you will need to go through a discovery phase, depositions, and possible further negotiations before the trial begins.

In other situations, you may be one of many victims of a defective product and therefore may be better off joining or initiating a class-action lawsuit to represent the suffering of many. The decision to file a class-action lawsuit requires a lot of information, so it is important that you have talked through the possibilities with your lawyer.

Calculating Damages In a Product Liability Case

Calculating the damages that you are owed for your injuries in a product liability case is the same as any other personal injury case, which means that they are divided into economic and non-economic damages. In certain instances, a judge or jury may award a victim additional punitive damages at the end of a trial, but since the plaintiff and their legal team have no influence on this decision, you and your attorney will only focus on the compensatory damages listed below.

Economic Damages

Economic damages are easy to measure because they come with receipts, financial statements, and invoices. These are your medical expenses, lost wages, and other expenses and services that you had to pay for in order to help yourself recover from your injuries or continue to live your life. This could even include things like laundry or grocery services if you would have normally performed these tasks on your own.

Non-Economic Damages

These damages are difficult to measure because they seek to apply a dollar value to such abstract things as the actual pain and suffering that comes with an injury. While these are certainly harder to calculate, they are just as important; as such, a good personal injury attorney will go to great lengths to calculate these damages and fight for them during negotiations or your trial.