If you’ve ever been hurt while riding a bike, you rarely think about the possibility that the bike could be defective. Often, the assumption is user error. But the truth is products we use every day can easily come off the manufacturing line defective in some way. If that bicycle had a faulty break, the manufacturer could actually be held liable for any injuries you suffered. Wouldn’t you want to get compensated if they were at fault? Here are four key questions to ask yourself when you’ve been injured by what you suspect could be a defective product:
- How Badly Have You Been Injured?: If you suffered a few scrapes and bruises after using a defective product, it’s not very likely you’ll be eligible to receive any real compensation for your injuries. Personal injury law is designed to “make whole” the injured party when another’s negligence has caused true harm. A judge is not very likely to exhaust the expense of the court system to determine fault if there was no real injury. The first step in your claim will be demonstration of injuries. Without real injuries, you have no claim.
(Read Our Defective Products Claim F.A.Q.) - Was the Defective Product the Actual Cause of Your Injuries? Oftentimes, this is a no-brainer, but sometimes it can be a little fuzzy figuring out exactly how your injuries were caused. It’s going to be important to show that the defective product was the cause of any harm you suffered. You’ll have to connect the dots if you’re going to win a defective products personal injury claim.
- Was the Defect in the Design, the Manufacturing or the Marketing of the Product? This can be tricky, but determining the nature of the defect can help you develop your claim. You see, there are two types of actual defects at work in a defective products claim: Defective Design and Defective Manufacture. Determining which kind you’re dealing with can help you bring your claim against the right defendants and prepare your case. Simply put, when a product is designed the way it was intended and is defective, the defect is obviously in the design. When the product is manufactured differently from the way it was intended and is defective, the defect is in the making of the product (perhaps at the plant where that particular product was produced).
Say, for instance, you have a weed whacker whose blade came flying off because it was poorly tightened by the manufacturer. That could be a manufacturing defect. However, let’s say the blade came flying off because the screws used to hold it in place were substandard and that that defect is standard across the model’s design. In that case, you have a design defect at work.
Still, the product could inherently be dangerous, and therefore require adequate warning and instruction about how to use it safely. If that weed whacker came with no instructions about the dangers of its use (keeping fingers away from the blade, maintaining distance from the blade when in use) and the user was injured using it in a nonconventional way against which they had no warning, they could have a Failure to Warn defective products claim.
Determining what kind of claim you have will help identify the defendants in your case. So it’s important to suss this element of your case out. - What Damages Should You Seek to Recover?: In any personal injury claim, determining damages can be a lot more complex than you may think. Many people think only of medical costs, lost wages and perhaps pain and suffering. But damages from a defective products claim can range well beyond those. Medical costs may span years and damages could incorporate therapy or even disability. If employability has been impacted by the accident, there could be future potential earnings on the table. And let’s say it is discovered that the manufacturer knew about the defect and did nothing to stop the product’s sales. That could lead to punitive damages.
Answering these kinds of questions are important when you are looking to recover the maximum amount of damages you are entitled to receive. So it’s vitally important when you’re looking to file your personal injury claim that you get the counsel of an experienced defective products attorney like those at Bizzieri Law offices in Chicago. We have the investigative resources necessary to flesh out the full range of defendants in your claim, and we are experienced negotiators, regularly winning the largest awards for our clients.
If you’re looking for an experienced Chicago personal injury lawyer to help navigate your personal injury claim, we will fight assiduously for your right to the compensation you deserve. Call Bizzieri Law Offices at 773.881.9000. The case evaluation is free, and we never charge a fee unless we recover damages for you.