Philadelphia Product Liability Lawyer

How Our Product Injury Lawyer Can Help You

How a Philadelphia Product Liability Attorney Works to Help You

Steps Our Defective Product Lawyers Take

When you are injured by a defective product, the sooner you get legal assistance, the better. When you contact our Wapner Newman lawyers, we begin working for you immediately. We will:

• Meet with you to discuss how your injuries happened, who the at-fault parties may be, and what your case may be worth
• Investigate the circumstances of your injury and gather any evidence such as photos and videos from surveillance cameras, and police, ambulance and medical records
• Interview witnesses and first responders
• Pursue expert testimony as to where the product was defective and who was at fault, and also experts to testify as to the costs you incurred and how your injuries affect your life and your future
• Help you obtain proper medical care and document all injuries and their progression
• Ensure all paperwork and preparatory actions are fulfilled in pursuit of an injury claim
• Negotiate with any insurance companies involved and attorneys from the other side
• Build your case and take it to court if necessary.

At Wapner Newman, we have the experience and resources to deal with big companies and their insurers. We are here to help clients get the care and payment they need to rebuild their lives after being injured by a faulty product. Once you come to us, we ensure your claim is filed in a timely manner. Our lawyers will handle the investigations, negotiations, details, and legal requirements, so you can focus on recovering from your injury.

Damages Our Products Liability Attorneys May Recover

In a successful product liability lawsuit, our attorneys may recover an award, called damages, for the injuries and losses you have suffered. This includes an amount to compensate for your economic and non-economic losses, as follows:

ECONOMIC DAMAGES

Economic damages are for monetary costs you have from the accident, including:

• Medical, therapy, and rehabilitative expenses – past, current, and expected in the future
• Lost wages and future earning capacity
• Property damage
• Funeral costs if a death is involved.

NON-ECONOMIC DAMAGES

Non-economic damages do not have a specific dollar value, but are compensation for losses including:

• Physical and emotional pain and suffering
• Disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment of life and of life’s pleasures
• Loss of a marital relationship (consortium).

PUNITIVE OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES

In some rare circumstances, there may be punitive damages awarded as well. These serve to punish a defendant for gross negligence and reckless actions and as an example to discourage this type of offense from happening again.

Possible Damage Amounts in a Product Liability Case

There is a wide range of settlements for a product liability lawsuit, from the thousands to millions of dollars. Damage amounts you may receive depend on your monetary losses and individual factors of your case such as:

• The type, extent and effects on your life of your injuries
• Whether the injuries will be permanent and require continuing care
• Whether you will be able to work in the future and what your earning capacity would have been if the injury had not occurred
• Your age, health, and family situation
• The skill of your attorneys to negotiate and build your case.

You deserve compensation for your injury-related expenses, and the manufacturer or other party responsible for the product defect should be held accountable for their negligence. Call Wapner Newman now to get started with your case.

Our Product Injury Attorney Explains Product Injury Lawsuits

“Product liability” lawsuits are filed for the purpose of getting compensation from those responsible for injuries caused by defective or dangerous products. Anyone in the chain of distribution of a defective product may be held liable if the product causes harm, including the manufacturer, the manufacturer of component parts, the wholesaler, the distributor and the retail store which sold the product.

In general, you may have a product liability case based on defects in three categories: manufacturing defect, design defect, and failure to warn.

1. Manufacturing defect. Manufacturing defects are flaws or defects that occur in the manufacturing process and may involve poor quality materials or shoddy workmanship. These defects occur when the product does not conform to the designer’s or manufacturer’s own specifications. Manufacturing defects usually are caused by errors in quality control or production and may not occur in every identical item produced.

These cases are the easiest to prove, since the manufacturer’s own design standards can be used to show that the product was defective.

2. Design Defects. These occur when the design is flawed and the product is unreasonably dangerous and can cause injury or death to someone using it, even though it is manufactured properly. However, not every product that can cause harm is defective. For example, a chain saw is inherently dangerous if not used correctly, but this not a design defect.

Examples of design defect would be airbags that shoot metal fragments when they inflate and medical devices that cause deadly infections when implanted in the body.

For design defects, our attorneys may need to present evidence that there was a cost-effective and less dangerous alternative design that would have prevented the injury but kept most of the product’s usefulness.

3. Failure to Warn. This arises when a product has a non-obvious danger that could be avoided through adequate warnings or instructions to the user. Manufacturers are required to provide warning labels or statements if the product has an unexpected danger that is not obvious or if it must be used in a certain way to be safe; they can be held liable if they fail to do so. For example, a product that poses a choking hazard to children or one that has elements that can burn you must carry a warning.

If the labeling or design of a product complies with federal regulations, your attorney would have to show that the regulations were inadequate or that the manufacturer withheld product information that may have affected its approval.

Who Can be Held Liable in a Product Liability Case?

Product liability” is the area of the law determining who is responsible for injuries caused by defective or dangerous products. Anyone in the chain of distribution of a defective product may be responsible if the product causes harm. Depending on the circumstances, there may be several parties responsible for your injuries. These include:

• Manufacturers and designers: The manufacturer of the product or its parts and parties involved in the design or marketing of the product may be liable.
• Retailers: Retailers are held responsible for ensuring products they promote for sale are safe and suitable for use, so they can be held liable for damages if they sell defective products.
• Wholesalers: The wholesalers, who are “middlemen” between the manufacturer and the retailer, may also be held liable.

Our product liability lawyer will investigate how the product was manufactured and distributed to find all parties potentially at fault for the damages you received. We would name them all as defendants in the lawsuit since they all may have insurance and assets that can go toward a settlement.

To win your case, we would have to show that the following elements exist:

• The defendant had a duty of care for their product not to cause harm.
• This duty was breached because the product was defective and unreasonably dangerous.
• The product got to you without a substantial change in condition and was used correctly.
• The defect caused you harm.
• You suffered damages as a result.

In product liability case, a negligence claim against a manufacturer can be brought because the manufacturer has a duty to carefully design, produce or market its products. You may also be able to bring a negligence claim against a seller who knew or had reason to know that the product was defective or dangerous and sold it anyway.

Using Strict Liability

In some cases, instead of trying to prove the manufacturer did something wrong or that the seller knew the product was defective, our injury attorneys can use the principle of “strict liability,” where we do not need to prove that the defendant was negligent or had intent to injure. Under strict liability, it must only be shown that the product was defective, that the defect made the product unreasonably dangerous, and that the defect caused your injury.

Defendants may then raise the defense that you substantially altered the product after it left the defendant’s control or the product was misused. Our product liability lawyers will utilize the evidence produced by our investigations to argue that this was not the case.

Philadelphia Product Liability Lawyers Answer Questions about Defective Products

Anyone injured by a defective product is bound to have questions and concerns. While these are best addressed at your free consultation, to get you started, here are some answers to questions our product liability attorneys are frequently asked:

What Makes a Product Defective?

Any product can be defective, often because many manufacturers are more concerned with pushing their products out to the marketplace than with testing the goods and ensuring the safety of consumers. If the product was not properly labeled or the instructions were faulty, you may have a claim for your injury. There could also be fault with the way the product was designed or manufactured, or a failure on the part of the company to properly warn you of potential hazards.

How do I Know if I Have a Product Liability Case?

If you’ve been injured while using a product, you potentially have a claim and should consult a product liability attorney. Our Wapner Newman product liability team has worked with many consumers to get justice and compensation for injuries that happened because of negligent companies. We will help you determine how strong your case is.

What Should I do With the Defective Product?

Keep it. Your instinct may be to throw the offending product away, but don’t. You’ll want to save the product in the exact condition it was in when it caused your injury. Bring it and any instructions and labeling that came with it to your initial consultation so that we can examine it. We will need to investigate the defective product and your injury to build the strongest case we can against the negligent company.

What if There was a Death from a Defective Product?

If you have lost your loved one due to a defective product, you might be able to file a wrongful death claim. In Pennsylvania, spouses, children and parents of the deceased can file wrongful death claims to receive compensation for burial fees, funeral costs, pending medical bills or funds that would have been generated by the deceased to support surviving family members.

How Can I Help my Product Liability Lawyer With my Case?

When you meet with us for your initial consultation, you should provide us with as much specific detail about the product and your accident as possible. The more we know about how you were injured and the circumstances surrounding the accident, the better we can direct our investigation and anticipate the arguments that the company may make against your claim.

What if I did Something to Contribute to the Injury?

Even if you did something to contribute to the injury, you may still collect compensation. Pennsylvania has a “modified comparative fault standard,” which states that the injured party cannot be found to be more than 50% responsible for the resulting injury and that recovery is allowed even if the party was equally responsible for the outcome.

If you have additional questions, please contact Wapner Newman at (215) 569-0900.

Call Our Product Liability Attorneys to Get Justice

If you think a mislabeled or defective product is what caused your serious illness or injury, you should get legal guidance to see if you may be entitled to compensation through a product liability lawsuit. While no amount of money can make up for the suffering, receiving a financial settlement can at least help take the burden off you by covering your losses, providing income, and allowing you to focus on your recovery. In addition, a successful case can help spread the word about dangerous products and take them off the market, which could in turn protect other people from being injured.

The skilled and experienced product liability lawyers at Wapner Newman are committed to giving your case individual attention and can provide you with dependable guidance, a listening ear, and strong legal strategies. We have helped hundreds of clients through the years deal with the injuries caused by another party’s negligence and secure the compensation they are entitled to through our thorough and creative investigative legal solutions.

Don’t wait to ask for help, as there are time limits for filing. According to Pennsylvania law (Title 42 Pa.C.S.A. Judiciary and Judicial Procedure § 5524), you generally have two years after the injury to file your case, or the courts are likely to refuse to hear it. In addition, it’s best to allow time for us to investigate and build your case while evidence is available and witnesses can be located.

Our product liability lawyers fight for the rights of injured people throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and are fully prepared to do the same for you. Call us today with any defective product issues, whether from drugs that cause harm or tools that injured you. There are no fees to you unless and until we win your case, so call us today to get started.

Client Testimonial

”Rob Miller is a great attorney who I highly recommend. He and his team are honest, responsive and hard working. They helped me at a difficult time following a significant accident. I could not work and needed surgery. They always had my best interest first. If you don’t call Rob I do believe you are making a mistake.” – Terry Mackley (Google Review)

Contact an experienced Philadelphia product liability lawyer to ask for your free, no-obligation consultation. Call us today at (215) 569-0900.