Understanding Product Liability in Personal Injury Situations

There are times when you can get injured because of using a particular product. It is important to understand that if you can prove that your injury is caused by a defective product, you can hold the vendor legally accountable and obtain compensation for your medical and other incurred expenses. Here are some more details of how product liability may apply in personal injury situations.

What is Product Liability?

Product liability is a legal concept where product manufacturers, suppliers and retailers are responsible for any injury which is caused using the product. The product liability is a concept that saves people from harmful products, which are not designed properly to provide an environment where they can be safely employed.

The concept of public policy is that no product should be dangerous by design. A product may also cause an injury due to poor manufacturing or the inability to inform the user about the risks involved with the use of the particular product. You can hire a product liability attorney and make a case which can then raise awareness about an issue and all product users can benefit from it.

Legal Theories

There are two legal theories in Illinois which can form the basis of a product liability lawsuit. Although hiring a personal injury lawyer will allow you to choose the right option, knowing more about these legal theories will help you select the ideal course of action.

Negligence

The negligence theory describes that you can produce legal proceedings if you can prove that the seller or the manufacturer had to provide a duty of care with their products that caused an injury. It must also be proven that this duty was breached and it was caused by an error or product problem that was known to cause such an injury, meaning that it was avoidable with the right duty of care. The injury that you suffer must be the one, directly caused by the problematic product. The duty of care can lie on either the manufacturer, the distributor or the seller of the product in different cases.

Strict Liability

This is a special law, which describes that a plaintiff has a case if they can prove an injury resulted from a defective productive, where it was clearly dangerous for the user. The strict liability theory can be applied to a defective product. The defect must have been present at the time the product was still under the control of the manufacturer who could have detected the problem to remove the product from the distribution. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you identify the right legal action and make sure that you are covered in a product liability case.

The Illinois Law

The Law No. 735 ILCS 5/13-213 of the Illinois General Assembly describes the details of product liability. It describes how a plaintiff can apply the product liability action using various legal theories that may all suggest a condition where the product had a defect which changed its characteristics from its normal working order.

If you suffered a personal injury due to product liability in Illinois, the Law Offices of Robert T. Edens, P.C. is great for obtaining legal representation. Contact us at (847) 395-2200 or online today to schedule your initial consultation.