The Florida Defective Products Guide was created by Paul Boone Law to help residents who have been injured by a defective product obtain maximum compensation for their claim.
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When products have a defect that harms people, the liable parties need to be held accountable for this wrongdoing. There are a lot of ways products could harm someone and manufacturers can be liable for this. If you believe that you are a victim of a defective product, please reach out to our Nassau County defective product lawyer as soon as you possibly can to set up a free consultation. We will go over the details of your case so you can get a better understanding of what you are entitled to and how we can fight for your justice. Do not hesitate to reach out. Give us a call today.
What Needs to Be Proven in a Product Liability Case?
When you are pursuing justice for a suspected products liability issue, there are several things that you and your lawyer need to be able to prove about the product and the manufacturing of it. You need to be able to prove that the product did indeed harm you, that it had a manufacturing defect or a defective design, or there were risks that you were not warned about properly before using it.
A lot of lawsuits involving defective products are based on strict liability, which means that you do not have to prove that there was negligence. You only need to prove that your particular product had a defect and that your injuries were caused because of that. If your defective product has a party involved who is identifiable and at fault in its manufacture, however, you can also bring forward a claim that is based on negligent behavior.
Recoverable Damages
When you pursue a case like this, you are entitled to damages. There are four types of damages that you can recover with a defective product lawsuit:
- Compensatory damages: This would cover all of your costs regarding treatment and lost wages, as well as anything else you paid out of pocket due to your injuries, an example being physical therapy.
- Pain and suffering: This is a non-economic type of damage that covers all of the mental anguish and suffering you had to endure because of this defective product and how it harmed you.
- Punitive damages: Punitive damages are less common but they are put into place when the defendant in a claim acted with such malice that the court wants to make an example out of them.
- Loss of consortium: If your life is changed so much so that your relationship with your spouse has been impacted you can recover compensation for this type of damage.
When our Nassau County defective product lawyer is working on a case like yours, we work hard to ensure that the compensation award fully and fairly represents all the damages that our client has suffered through. We take a good look at your case and analyze how this is impacting your life and push to get end results that accurately reflect how it has affected your life.
Using a Product Wrong
When you look at a product and you look at all the writing on the back of it, for example, you see a lot of warnings most of the time. If you saw a warning on the back of an antibiotic cream to use it only externally, then the manufacturer of the product would be protected against a liability case if somebody internally used this product and experienced harm. If you accidentally used a product the wrong way, however, and there was no warning about using it the wrong way from the manufacturer, then you might be entitled to compensation.
The best way to find out whether or not you have a case is to get in touch with our Nassau County defective product lawyer as soon as you possibly can. We will go over your case and deliberate on whether or not we believe that you should go forward with the lawsuit. Call us right away and we will set you up with a free consultation.
Class Action Product Liability Lawsuits
There are a lot of cases of defective product lawsuits becoming a class action lawsuit, especially when one product has widely harmed a lot of people. When a large group of people who have shared experience of harm from a defective product unite in a lawsuit, sometimes that means an even more powerful verdict. They end up sharing any compensation that they are awarded.
The following are factors in a product liability case:
- The products in question caused harm to users
- There was negligence involved with the manufacturing of the product and the product itself is extremely hazardous
- Before the product left the manufacturer there was a flaw with it
The following are factors that have to deal with negligence:
- The manufacturer did not uphold safety measures needed to create a product that would not harm people
- The manufacturer designed a product that would be defective
There are a lot of laws and regulations that mandate how a product needs to be created and supplied to users. If a manufacturer does not uphold the safety regulations for the product, they can be liable for harm that happens to users of this product.
Example of a Defective Product Case
The following is an example of a defective product case:
A misconception about toys and child products is that nobody uses lead paint anymore but that’s kind of a false narrative. In 1978, the US banned the use of lead in products that were directly marketed to children. That doesn’t stop other countries, however, from using lead in their products for kids. If you are experiencing something like this, please get in contact with our lawyer to discuss the details about a defective product that caused harm to your child.
You would not expect a lot of the big toy retailers to have dangerous products, but they do. If you go into Walmart, you could find toys that have been imported from China so that they can turn over profit. They can do this to get a lot of toys for very cheap and then sell them for more and make a lot of money for this. This also means that the lead ban doesn’t protect your child because these toys are from a different country where lead is not banned.
If you look on the news you can see the reports of toys being banned by big retailers because of lead poisoning. Even the little toys that they get from vending machines can contain lead.
A child handling a toy that has lead contamination or putting on jewelry that has lead in it does not necessarily cause lead poisoning; however, because kids are notorious for putting things in their mouth, they can ingest a dangerous amount of lead paint which can cause them to get seriously harmed. This can happen with adults or children but, of course, it’s more common for children to put things that they aren’t supposed to in their mouth.
The following are the issues a child can have if they are exposed to lead and have lead poisoning:
- An IQ that is lowered
- Issues with learning
- Problems with their behavior
- Injuries to the brain
- Seizures
- Damage to the kidney
- Anemia
- Coma or death
We may be unaware that your child is being exposed to and ingesting lead, so here are some symptoms to look for in your child:
- Unusual crankiness
- Headache
- Problems with memory
- Impaired coordination
- Slowed reflexes
- Weakness in muscles
- Sluggishness
- Vomiting and nausea
- Constipation and/or diarrhea
- Pain in the abdomen
- Weight loss
- Unusual paleness
Choosing a Nassau County Defective Product Lawyer
Who you choose to represent you and your defective product case can make or break the outcome of your entire lawsuit. You want to choose someone who has had a lot of experience handling cases like yours and will keep you informed about your case’s progress every step of the way.
When considering a lawyer to work on your case, taking part in a free consultation is a good way to get to know them and the process that they will use to create a strong defense for you. Paul Boone sits down with prospective clients for a free consultation to get a better understanding of what their experience was and what they are up against legally.
Our Nassau County defective product lawyer has tried cases similar to yours with success. We know what it takes to create a strong case and how to overcome the obstacles that you are bound to face in a product liability claim. We are dedicated and fierce protectors of our clients and we fight tirelessly to get the results that they deserve. If you want strong and dependable legal representation for your case please get in contact with our office as soon as you possibly can to set up a free consultation to learn more about the process.
Liability in a Defective Products Cases
People ask often when someone’s been injured by a defective product or a loved one’s been killed by a defective product who the liable party is. In a defective product situation, generally speaking, you can make your claim against the manufacturer of the product, the distributor of the product, or the retail distributor of the product. That’s the stream of commerce that your product goes through. There may be other responsible parties, as well. If your product has component parts that contributed to the defective nature of the product, you may be able to sue the maker of the component parts.
These are complex cases and they require time to develop who the responsible parties may be. Generally speaking, your stream of commerce entities can be responsible and those are the ones that we look at first. If you have the kind of case where a defective product caused harm or death to a loved one in the Nassau County and Duval County area, give us a call. We’ll sit down and go over things. We’ll figure out a plan that’s going to help you best.
Damages Available in a Defective Products Claim
People often ask what they can recover on a case where they’ve been injured by a defective product. Those things can include new medical expenses that occurred because of being hurt by the product. If you lost time from work, you lost wages, you can recover. You can recover damage or injury to property that occurred as a result of the product under certain circumstances. You can also recover what are called intangible losses, like pain and suffering, or the loss of the capacity for the enjoyment of life, mental anguish, and inconvenience. Essentially, all of the things that result from the alteration of your life, you can recover in a case involving a defective product. If you have one of those cases, we can go over all those things plus a whole lot more. If this happened in Duval County, Nassau County, or any of the surrounding areas, give us a call. We’ll sit down and we’ll figure out a plan to move forward in a way that makes the most sense for your case.
Time Limits For Defective Product Claims
Clients, or potential clients, call us when they’ve either been injured by a defective product or their loved one has died as a result of a defective product. They want to know how much time they have to make a claim or to do something, which is just another way of asking what the statute of limitation period is. Generally speaking, it’s four years on an injury case. If the defective product has killed a loved one and you qualify under Florida’s wrongful death act to bring the claim, it’s two years. There are also statutes that are called statute of repose which provide an outside end of time period to bring the claim if the claim was covered up by the defendant and you had no idea that you had a claim to start with. Those statutes of repose have gone through different changes over the years but they’re still there.
If you have that kind of case, call us if it’s occurred in Duval County, Nassau County, or surrounding area, and do it immediately so those issues of time limits don’t become critical. It’s important that you give your lawyer adequate time to investigate your case because these are not simple cases. They are complex cases and they take time. Do not wait until the end of that period to make the phone call. Call us today. We’ll go over everything and we’ll figure out a plan that suits you the best.
How Design Defects and Manufacturing Defects Differ
A manufacturing defect is a product that is okay but there was a defect at the plant when the part was made. In a defective design case where a product has harmed you, it’s the design itself that was bad. It was manufactured correctly according to the design of the manufacturer but the design was bad.
For example, years and years and years ago, there was a car that was manufactured and the gas tank was in the wrong spot. Under minor rear-end collisions, it would rupture, explode, and the occupants would burn up. That was defective design. If you have one of those cases where you’ve been harmed by a defective product, whether it’s defective in design or just defective from the plant, call us up. We’ll make an appointment to sit down. We’ll go over all of that with you. We’ll come up with a plan that’s going to help you the best.
No Longer in Possession of The Defective Product
Many times clients come into our office having been injured by a product and they don’t have that product anymore. Can they still file? The frank answer is, yes, you can, but your case has lost an awful lot of value. Without the product, it is obviously impossible for anybody to review it, to inspect it, to determine the defective nature of it. Without that, you limit your ability to maintain the case, but technically, you can. It’s not one that we would handle, however.
Having said that, if you have the case where you’ve been hurt by a product, call us and we will sit down with you. Part of our job is counseling people and we can talk to you about your case and advise you on its strengths and the weaknesses, especially when you don’t have your product. We can map out a plan— an appropriate plan. Give us a call and we’ll help you figure it out.
Contacting The Maker of a Defective Product
When we speak to clients who have been hurt by a defective product, they often ask if it is okay to call the manufacturer. Maybe they’ve already spoken or received a phone call and they want to know whether they should talk to them. Uniformly, without exception, the answer is no. Do not talk to the company that made the product, the insurance company that may be insuring their device, or anybody on their side of the table because they do not have your interest at heart. They have the interest of their client, their insured at heart, and they are gathering information from you to help their case with their insured. They will not help you and they will only harm you. Do not talk to them.
In our initial conference, we will tell you that if you receive a phone call from the insurance company or the company that made the product, do not talk to them. Give them our contact information, and politely but firmly tell them to call your attorney. We will talk to them and that will establish the line of communication between us and them. If you have a case with a defective product in Nassau County, Duval County area, call us and we’ll sit down. We’ll talk about that and a whole host of other things. We’ll devise a plan that will be best for you and your case.
Why You Need a Defective Products Attorney
With defective product cases, what is clearly defective to you may not be clearly defective. It might be, it might not be. You are in an area that is not your expertise. You are on other people’s turf and you don’t know what you don’t know. There may be more than one defendant available. We’re talking just right at this point about liability, about whether a manufacturer or any of the intermediary defendants have responsibility, whether they did anything wrong. We’re not talking about your damages at all. An evaluation of damages in a defective products case is a complex analysis. It’s an analysis that doesn’t happen at the front end of a case. These are things where considerations go into play to value your case.
Those are just some of the reasons why you need a lawyer, and an experienced lawyer, to navigate you through areas that you have no idea exist probably, and if you do know they exist, you don’t have the experience to do it yourself. I would never recommend that someone handle a defective products case by themselves without a lawyer. Get an experienced lawyer, someone like me who’s been in practice 38 years. If you have a case like that in Nassau County, Duval County, or any of the surrounding areas, call me. We’ll sit down. Consultation is free. If you still think you don’t need a lawyer, my suggestion is that you do and I can help you. We’ll map out a plan that suit you the best. Thanks.
Choosing The Right Defective Product Attorney
We are often asked how someone should go about selecting a lawyer, particularly a lawyer in the defective product area where someone’s been injured by a defective. We always tell them to get a lawyer with experience. Get a lawyer who has handled defective products before. Also look for a lawyer who has been to trial and knows the risks and benefits associated with trying your case, a lawyer who’s not fresh out of school.
These are not simple cases. These are complex cases and they require the services of a lawyer who’s done it before. We have been in practice 38 years and have handled many defective product cases. We know what’s involved and can sit down with you if you’ve been harmed or a loved one has died as a result of a defective product in the Duval County, Nassau County area. Give us a call so we can devise a plan that’s going to suit your case the best.
Call Our Florida Defective Product Accident Lawyer Today
Were you or a loved one seriously injured by an automobile while out on a ride and have questions about bicycle accident case value? Contact experienced Florida Defective Product accident lawyer at Paul Boone Law today for a free consultation and case evaluation.
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