Oklahoma City Defective Product Lawyers

Globalization offers certain advantages to consumers, including a wider choice of products at our fingertips at a lower price. However, the greater availability of consumer items frequently has a dark side — we don’t always know where a product was made or how it was designed. Poorly made or designed products can malfunction and cause severe injury and even death.

If a defective product has injured you or a family member, you could be eligible for compensation for your losses. At Nix Patterson, our Oklahoma City defective product lawyers are dedicated to fighting for financial justice for people injured by faulty products.

What Is Product Liability?

In the U.S., it is estimated that approximately 12 million people went to emergency rooms in 2021 because of injuries related to consumer products. When a consumer is injured or killed because of a defective product, they can file a claim for damages against the liable party or parties that harmed them. This is the basis of a product liability claim.

Product liability is the legal liability that product manufacturers, designers, and marketers have to consumers hurt by dangerous products. People who buy or use products should be able to expect not to be hurt when a product is used according to its design. If you or a loved one is hurt because of a defective product, you can file a civil lawsuit to obtain compensation for your losses.

However, most product liability claims differ from personal injury claims. In a personal injury lawsuit, you must prove that another party was negligent and caused your injuries.

But in a product liability claim, you don’t need to prove that the company acted negligently. This is because of the ‘strict liability’ legal doctrine. According to the strict liability legal theory, a plaintiff can prove their case and win compensation if they just show the problem with the product led to harm.

The difference between personal injury and product liability claims can be seen in the following example. Suppose you are hurt in a car accident in Oklahoma City near Paycom Center or Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. Obtaining compensation in a personal injury claim means showing that the other party was negligent and caused your injuries.

In a product liability claim, however, it isn’t necessary to prove negligence. This can make it easier for a product liability victim to win in civil court. However, these cases are tricky and are best handled by an experienced product liability attorney. The product manufacturer will probably contest the claim with their own attorneys, so you should have a skilled litigator working with you.

What Qualifies as a Defective Product?

Products are defective if they feature design, marketing, or manufacturing flaws. When such flaws make the product unreasonably hazardous, injured parties have the right to file a product liability lawsuit with the help of a personal injury law firm.

There are several kinds of product liability. Depending on how the accident happened, you or your family member could be victimized by one or more of these kinds of product liability:

• Product defect: If the product’s design is dangerous or likely to malfunction, the product designers could be liable for the flaws and injuries that occur from the defect.
• Manufacturing defect: If the product design is safe, but it was improperly manufactured, and the defects cause injury, the manufacturer could be liable.
• Failure to warn: If the product could harm you if improperly used, the product manufacturer must include instructions to use it safely. They also must warn about the possible dangers of misusing the product.
• Breach of warranty: Consumer products often come with express or implied warranties. An express warranty offers the person certain guarantees from the product manufacturer. An implied warranty is not clearly described in an agreement between the consumer and the manufacturer or distributor. Instead, the warranty is implied by state or federal law or circumstance. If a state mandates a product have a warranty, there is an implied warranty for that product.

Common Types of Dangerous Products

All types of consumer products can be defective, but these are the most common product classes that are subject of these lawsuits:

• Motor vehicles: All autos must pass many safety evaluations before being marketed, but they are among the most recalled consumer products. After all, one small defect in millions of cars can cause great harm. An example is the Takata airbag flaw that led to one of the most extensive recalls in automotive history.
• Medical devices: Many types of medical devices can fail and cause harm, such as vaginal mesh and heart stents.
• Children’s toys: Many toys have a dangerous design or were poorly manufactured, potentially leading to harm.
• Appliances: Many common household appliances, including hairdryers, clothes dryers, ovens, and water heaters, can contain defects.
• Prescription drugs: All pharmaceuticals sold in the United States must undergo exhaustive testing before being sold, but certain serious side effects may not be found until millions take the medications.
• Food: Contaminated foods also are considered defective products. If you are poisoned by food, the parties in the supply chain could be required to compensate you.

Who Can You Sue for a Defective Product?

Depending on the case, several parties could be liable for the injuries in your defective product case. Your attorney will identify every potential person or entity who could be held responsible for harming you:

• The product manufacturer: The item’s manufacturer is at the top of the distribution chain. This makes them the first candidate to be potentially liable in a lawsuit. In some situations, there could be several manufacturers who can be held liable. An example is if a defective product is a piece of a larger product, such as a defective part in a car.
• The product retailer: You also may file a claim against the entity that sold you the product. Even if you didn’t directly purchase or use the product yourself, you still could get compensation from the marketer if you were hurt when the product was used.
• The distributor: You also could file a claim in some cases against others in the distribution chain, such as the wholesaler or distributor. They may not have caused your injuries directly, but any entity in the supply chain could be held liable.

Recovering Compensation in a Product Liability Lawsuit

It is reasonable to expect product manufacturers and retailers to offer consumers products that work safely. State and national laws are intended to prevent defective and dangerous products from being marketed. If a dangerous product injures you, the law allows the injured party to sue for damages from the entity that made or marketed it.

Winning a product liability case isn’t easy, but your Nix Patterson product liability attorney is skilled in proving the following factors:

• The product caused your injuries
• The product had defects due to design or manufacture, or the entity failed to warn of potential dangers
• The product defect was unreasonably dangerous

At Nix Patterson, our product liability attorneys use our experience in these complex claims to show that a defective product was dangerous and injured you. That way, you can obtain the compensation you deserve for medical bills, lost earnings, pain and suffering, and more.

To receive compensation in a lawsuit, you do not necessarily have to have purchased the product yourself. The injured person could be any party who used the product, and even bystanders hurt by the product can recover damages. Oklahoma law states that people hurt by a defective product should be allowed to recover compensation from those who made money from the product and those who could reduce the risk of selling a defective product.

But, you have to file your lawsuit within two years of the date of the product-related injury. To meet this strict deadline, call Nix Patterson as soon as possible.

The Difference Between a Class Action and Multidistrict Litigation

Most civil lawsuits involve an injured party seeking money for their losses. Multidistrict litigation (MDLs) and class action lawsuits include many class members or plaintiffs who share similar circumstances that led to the case being filed. In class actions and MDLs, a group of injured parties allege the same entity harmed them.

Class actions and MDLs are similar in that they are lawsuits that put many individuals’ interests into one legal action, as opposed to many separate lawsuits. Both are intended to lower the number of court cases when the same defendant and circumstances hurt many people.

That said, there are critical differences between class actions and MDLs to understand. The main difference is the status of each plaintiff within the lawsuit. An MDL often involves a group of people who each may have their own individual case. On the other hand, a class action suit usually involves one or more injured people representing a larger number of individuals.

While MDL plaintiffs are still part of the bigger group, each has its own separate legal case. This means each party in the MDL must prove their facts, including how they were hurt. In a class action, one or a few plaintiffs usually represent the interests of many harmed parties.

Your Nix Patterson product liability attorney can discuss any possibility of joining a class action or MDL, depending on the case circumstances.

Why Do I Need an Oklahoma City Defective Product Attorney?

Product liability cases are often complicated and require the help of an Oklahoma City defective product attorney to be successful. To obtain compensation, you must prove that the defective product was an unreasonable danger to you and caused injury. Given the complexity of these civil actions, selecting the proper attorney can be the most critical step to ensure a full recovery. At Nix Patterson, our product liability attorneys will handle every complex legal issue to ensure you get the most money for your losses.

Nix Patterson’s Defective Product Attorneys Can Help

If a defective product has hurt you or someone you love, speak to a Nix Patterson product liability attorney today. Our attorneys understand the difficulties of being injured by a hazardous product and want to help.

You may have medical bills, rehabilitation, pain and suffering, and lost earnings, and the negligent party should be held accountable. Contact our Oklahoma City defective product attorneys today for a complimentary consultation.