When someone purchases or utilizes a product, they rarely stop to think that said item could potentially cause harm. Fortunately, in most cases, such unfortunate occurrences do not take place. However, in less common instances, a faulty product might result in injury.
Fortunately, when such occasions arise, a legal concept known as product liability might entitle those injured to compensation for the damages they incurred. This brief blog discusses product liability and advises New Jersey residents the amount of time they are given to initiate such a civil action.
Product Liability Defined
Product liability is a branch of personal injury law that might hold those entities responsible for the creation and distribution of a defective product legally accountable to individuals said item might cause harm towards.
Parties Who May Be Subject To Product Liability Actions
Several parties might be subjected to a product liability claim. Publicly purchased or consumed items might develop potentially harmful defects at any stage of creation, development or distribution. Therefore, entities such as product designers, manufacturers, distributors or even wholesalers could be defendants in a product liability suit.
Types Of Injuries Faulty Products Might Precipitate
Specific injuries a defective product might cause vary depending upon the item in question and the degree of the defect. That said, defective products could encompass numerous different items including but not limited to household objects, food and beverages, vehicles and recreational equipment.
Proving Product Liability
Successfully proving product liability can be a challenging endeavor that necessitates the services of a personal injury attorney.
A claimant must first demonstrate that the purported item contained some type of flaw. Additionally, the plaintiff is also required to identify which stage of development said defect occurred in. For example, if the claimant purchased a product that caught fire while utilizing it, said individual must demonstrate if this flaw can be attributed to how the particular product was designed, constructed, shipped or housed.
In other instances, certain products might be inherently dangerous to utilize or ingest. Under these circumstances, the makers, manufacturers or distributors would be expected to provide adequate safety warnings to otherwise unsuspecting consumers. Should said parties not provide such fair warnings, said entities might also be subject to a product liability action.
Should the claimant successfully illustrate that a product was flawed, said individual and legal advisors will then be required to prove how said defect was attributable to the damages sought. Any illness, injury or disability purported by the claimant must be supported by factual medical evidence that unequivocally connects said wounds to the product’s defect and resulting unfortunate events and no other pre-existing or underlying health problems.
Product liability cases may take some time to deliberate. A personal injury lawyer and said professional’s staff might be required to conduct extensive research of a particular product’s consumer history to discern the specific flaw contained within the item. Moreover, a successful claim might also hinge on the testimony of other professionals such as engineers, product designers and physicians.
Statute Of Limitations
It is important to note that individuals wishing to initiate product liability claims are not afforded an indefinite duration of time to execute such actions. In accordance with New Jersey Legislative Statutes (N.J. Stat. § 2A:14-2(a) to be specific), those injured in product liability cases are afforded two years from the date of the injury-inducing event to initiate a claim.
