Product Liability

The manufacturers and sellers of products have a duty to sell products which are reasonably safe.

 

There are several types of product liability:

 

• Design Defect – an intended condition of the product renders it unreasonably dangerous. The design itself is flawed, for instance. In these cases, there must exist a safer alternative.

​

• Manufacturing Defect – a defect that arises for manufacturing failures which cause a product to depart from a safe product design. Manufacturing defects are, in a sense, unintended.

​

• Marketing Defect – This defect is a failure to provide adequate instructions or a failure to warn the consumer about ways of using the product which are dangerous.

​

Unlike some other areas of personal injury, the courts have tended to expand consumer protection over recent decades. However, these cases can be complex, requiring very specific kinds of expert testimony. Rock Onstad, a board certified lawyer, has handled numerous successful product liability cases and has a particular interest in medical devices.