San Bernardino Product Liability Lawyer

San Bernardino Dangerous Products Attorney

Products sold to consumers are, by law, supposed to be safe for their intended uses. However, we have all read the headlines in San Bernardino newspapers through the years, and we know that product safety is not always what it should be. Lead has been found in children's toys, pharmaceutical products have killed unsuspecting users, and cars have been known to burst into flames on impact.

When consumer products maim, sicken or kill, products liability law is there to help the victims. If a defective product has injured you or someone you care, please contact a San Bernardino products liability attorney, as soon as possible. A products liability lawyer can help make sure that the responsible parties bear the costs of producing and selling the defective product, not the injured consumer.

Proving Your Products Liability Case

The manufacturer may be found liable for negligence if it did not exercise reasonable care to produce a safe product. It makes no difference if the defect that caused the injury was present in the product's design, created during its manufacture or went unnoticed during quality testing. If a defective product injures a consumer, and the product is defective because the manufacturer did not use reasonable care to produce a safe product, the manufacturer may be found negligent.

Negligence, however, is not always the only legal theory under which a claim for product liability injury can be brought. When multiple bases for a product liability suit possible, your San Bernardino products liability attorney may seek recovery under all of the products liability theories relevant to your case. Some additional product liability claims that might apply to your case include:

• Breach of Warranty: When a manufacturer provides a warranty with its product, it is guaranteeing that the product will live up to the promises made in that warranty. If the product does not perform as warranted, the consumer will usually only be able to get a repair or replacement, in accordance with the terms of the warranty itself. However, if the failure in the product's warranted performance causes physical injury to the consumer, the consumer may be able to recover damages under a breach of warranty theory.

• Strict Product Liability: The injured party does not need to show that the manufacturer was negligent in order to prevail on a strict product liability claim. In accordance with California law, a consumer injured by a product may state a cause of action for strict products liability if it can be proven that: 1) the product they bought or used was defective; 2) the manufacturer sent the product out of the factory in that defective condition; and 3) the product's defect injured the consumer.

You and your San Bernardino products liability attorney will have to present adequate proof to win your product liability case, no matter what theory your case is based on. That is why you should save any evidence you have for your product liability claim, such as photos of injuries or damage done by the product. Also save receipts, boxes, and literature that came with the product, and do not throw the product away! Save it for your San Bernardino product liability lawyer to inspect and use as evidence.

Recovering Damages For Products Liability Injuries

By pressing your claim under more than one products liability theory, your San Bernardino product liability lawyer may increase your chances of recovering damages. But what types of product liability damages can you seek? The answer to this question will, of course, depend on how you were injured, how severely you were injured, and whether the defective product caused property damage.

Here are some types of damages a San Bernardino product liability attorney might seek on your behalf:

• Medical expenses

• Lost wages

• Pain and suffering

• Property damage - For example, if the defective product was a fire extinguisher and it malfunctioned, causing the consumer's kitchen grease fire to spread, damages for the fire damage may be recoverable.

• Punitive damages - Punitive damages are awarded only in certain cases, where a manufacturer deliberately sends a defective product into commerce or willfully disregards evidence that the product might be dangerous. Punitive damages are often quite large and are not intended to compensate the product liability victim. Punitive damage awards are intended to punish the manufacturer and keep others from engaging in similar bad conduct.

Finding the Right Products Liability Lawyer

San Bernardino-area residents who suffer injuries due to defective products have options. They can hire their neighborhood general practice attorney to help them, or the lawyer who handled their house closing. Or they can secure the services of an attorney firm that handles only personal injury claims. The advantage of this last option is pretty obvious; if a firm concentrates only on personal injury cases, it's a safe bet that its lawyers have developed special expertise in the area.

The lawyers at The Reeves Law Group handle personal injury claims, exclusively. Through the years, they have consistently won impressive damage awards for their many products liability clients. If you have been injured by a defective product, they will work hard to get similar results for you. For a free consultation concerning your product liability claim, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or e-mail us.