Product Liability Questions

Product liability holds manufacturers, distributors, and sellers accountable when a defective or dangerous product injures someone. In Florida, claims can be based on a design flaw, a manufacturing error, or a failure to include adequate warnings or instructions. These cases cover everything from vehicles and medical devices to pharmaceuticals, consumer electronics, and household goods.

Design defects: the product’s design is inherently unsafe even when manufactured correctly. Manufacturing defects: something went wrong during production that made a particular unit dangerous. Marketing defects (failure to warn): the product lacks adequate safety warnings, instructions, or labeling about known risks.

You need to show that the product was defective when it left the manufacturer’s control, you used it as intended or in a way that was reasonably foreseeable, the defect caused your injury, and you suffered real damages. Depending on the type of claim, you may need to prove negligence, or you may be able to rely on strict liability.

Strict liability holds manufacturers and sellers responsible for defective products without requiring proof of negligence. You just need to show that the product was defective and the defect caused your injury. It exists because consumers shouldn’t have to prove what went wrong inside a factory to get compensation for a dangerous product.

Four years from the date of injury for strict liability claims. If the claim is based on negligence instead, the two-year deadline may apply for incidents after March 24, 2023. Florida also has a 12-year statute of repose that bars claims filed more than 12 years after the product was first delivered to its original purchaser.

Anyone in the product’s chain of distribution, including the designer, manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler, and retailer who sold it. That broad scope exists so injured consumers have recourse even if one link in the chain is bankrupt or based outside the country.

Virtually anything: cars and car parts, prescription drugs, medical devices, children’s toys, appliances, power tools, food products, electronics, industrial equipment, and other items. If you used a product the way it was intended (or in a way the manufacturer should have anticipated) and a defect caused you harm, you may have a claim.

Medical expenses, future treatment, lost wages and earning capacity, pain and suffering, emotional distress, disfigurement, and disability. Where the manufacturer acted willfully or with gross negligence, punitive damages may also be considered. When a defective product injures a large number of people, a class action may be the right vehicle.