When you buy a particular product, you hope to use it without experiencing any issues. However, defective products can lead to personal injury, fatality, or property damage. It could be medication with a toxic inclusion or an appliance malfunction. In worst-case scenarios, the injuries you sustain may make you unable to continue working as you used to and cause you to lose income. Other times, you may also experience a lot of pain and incur significant medical bills as you seek treatment.
Thus, it’s only fair to get compensated for the damages you might have incurred, especially since you didn’t plan for them. Doing so involves filing for personal injury claims. To get reimbursed, you must prove that the product is defective and show proof of the injuries you obtained from using it. With that in mind, below is how to launch a defective product claim:
1. Get Treatment For The Injuries You Obtain
If the product you used has caused severe injuries, ensure you get treatment immediately. It’ll help you curb the effects and prevent the injuries from worsening. The doctors can also assess you based on your injuries and determine if the product caused harm to you. They’ll give a detailed account of the connection between your injury and the product in question. Even though you may be in pain after the treatment, don’t wait too long to file your claim because there’s a specific duration set aside by the court.
2. Document Everything
After being treated for the injuries, ensure you document all that happened since you purchased the product and started using it up to your injury. In this case, you need labels, the defective product, pictures, recordings, videos from witnesses, warranties, and receipts. Also, ensure you have details of all the medical expenses and injuries you’ve sustained.
3. Prove The Product Is Defective
Despite all the details, you need evidence showing the defective product you used. Below are examples of things you typically need to prove:
1. You need proof showing you used the product as described on the labels.
2. You’ll have to show your physical injuries or prove you’ve suffered emotionally. Perhaps the scars from burns, brain trauma pictures, an underlying disease, handicap, loss of income, or damaged car.
3. You need to show that the products have a problem. The following are some of the significant defects:
4. Design flaws: These happen when the product is being made. The problem could begin from the design in that the company failed to note the issues and still okayed the product. Goods with defective designs can lead to injuries.
5. Manufacturer defects: These can happen when the product is being manufactured. They can sometimes be unknown, perhaps because of using substandard raw materials or the goods not being packaged well. The manufacturer defects that happen there are unplanned, but they still cause damage.
6. Market defects: It’s when the manufacturer fails to disclose any information about the potential toxicity of their products on their labels when marketing them. The problem may seem minor, but it can cause much harm.
Having information showing you got harmed directly can strengthen your case.
4. Keep The Product
For your claim to go through, you must possess the products that caused you damage. The lawyers can analyze them with their experienced experts to see what ingredients could have caused the adverse effects.
If they’re tools, you can put them in a toolbox to preserve evidence and ensure they don’t cause further harm. For appliances, ensure you switch them off and keep them away from fire hazards. The same also applies to medications. Keep them where no one can get to them. If it’s an accident, don’t repair it until the attorneys check it. Lastly, ensure you were given when buying the products.
5. Hire An Experienced Attorney
An experienced personal injury attorney can help you make a strong case against the company that made the defective product. Remember, suing large corporations may be challenging, and they’ll try their best to twist the case to work in their favor through their lawyers.
Thus, having a reliable lawyer increases your chances of getting compensated. They can help you present a well-detailed case and meet typical legal requirements when filing your claims. The lawyers will also evaluate your case to see if the injuries happened due to negligence, in which case they can advise you accordingly. But if the company is wrong, perhaps by failing to do lab tests to identify potential dangers, they’ll send a demand letter to the producers for compensation.
In most cases, the lawyers can solve these cases without going to court. But still, the attorney can stand in for you in court if you fail to reach an agreement and file a class action lawsuit against the company.
Conclusion
Defective products can cause significant damage to you or your property. Thus, you must know how to file a claim to ensure you get compensated for the damages, loss of income, and emotional pain you experienced. Start by finding a lawyer to assist with compiling a high-probability case and ensure you get the justice you deserve.
