You or someone you love has been hurt, and the injury was the result of a product failure.
Maybe it was the collapse of the swing set you had erected in your backyard for your children. Maybe it was a household appliance or a tire that was mounted on your sport utility vehicle. No matter what the product, it is easy to want to point a finger of blame at the manufacturer. But one of the first questions that will need to be answered is whether the product’s failure was the result of a defect for which they can be held liable, or whether it failed due to normal wear and tear.
Though it’s easy to make the leap of logic that a product’s failure means that the product is defective, the truth is that failure is only considered a defect if the product failed prematurely. Every product has a period of time that it is expected to last, and after that time has passed it is no longer reasonable — or legally viable — to refer to its failure as reflective of manufacturer negligence. If your swing set lasted through rain and shine for twenty years and then a rusted-out bolt snapped and the swing fell to the ground when your grandchild attempted to use it, it is not reasonable to call that failure a defective product. Likewise, you cannot expect a tire with 200,000 miles on it to provide like-new traction when you slam on the brakes.
When you file a lawsuit accusing a product manufacturer of negligence over a defective product, it is important to consider exactly what happened and whether the product actually failed to operate in the way it was designed to or whether the failure was a result of whether your use of it exceeded its operational life expectancy. Though you may have been disappointed that the product did not last forever – and your injury is very real – a court is not likely to agree that normal wear and tear is the same as a defect.
When a consumer is injured as a result of a product failure, it is always fair to ask whether the fault lies with the manufacturer and whether the damage suffered is a result of a defective product. Our experienced product liability attorneys can help you to investigate how long a failed product was in service, what the product’s expected operational life is, and whether or not you can pursue a defective product claim.
Contact us today!