Who Can Bring A Product Liability Lawsuit?

Consumers rely on manufacturers to design and sell products that are reasonably safe when they are used as intended. Whether it's a vehicle, household appliance, children's toy, medical device, or prescription medication, people expect products to perform without causing unnecessary harm.

Unfortunately, defective products injure thousands of people every year. Some defects cause relatively minor injuries, while others lead to catastrophic harm or even wrongful death. When a dangerous product causes an injury, victims often wonder whether they have the right to file a lawsuit, and if so, who can be held responsible.

The answer depends on several factors, including how the injury occurred, the type of defect involved, and the person's relationship to the product. Understanding who may bring a product liability claim can help injured individuals protect their legal rights.

What Is A Product Liability Lawsuit?

In a product liability lawsuit, a legal action is brought against one or more parties involved in designing, manufacturing, distributing, or selling a defective product that causes injury.

Unlike many other personal injury claims, product liability cases often focus less on whether someone acted carelessly and more on whether the product itself was unreasonably dangerous. These lawsuits may involve products such as:

• Automobiles and vehicle components
• Medical devices
• Prescription drugs
• Household appliances
• Power tools
• Children's products and toys
• Industrial equipment
• Electronics
• Consumer products
• Construction materials

If a defect causes injuries during reasonably foreseeable use, the injured person may have grounds to pursue compensation.

Who Can File A Product Liability Claim?

Many people assume that only the purchaser of a product can file a lawsuit. In reality, product liability laws often protect a much broader group of people.

The Person Who Purchased the Product

The most obvious plaintiff is the consumer who bought the product.

If someone purchases a defective pressure cooker, for example, and it explodes during normal use, causing severe burns, the purchaser may be able to file a claim against the responsible parties.

Family Members

Family members who use products purchased by someone else may also have legal rights. For example:

• A child injured by a defective crib
• A spouse burned by a defective coffee maker
• A teenager hurt while using a defective lawnmower

The injured person does not necessarily need to be the one who made the purchase.

Guests And Other Lawful Users

Many products are used by people other than the purchaser. For example, someone injured while riding in a vehicle, using a borrowed power tool, staying in a hotel room with defective furniture, or using exercise equipment at a gym may still be able to pursue a product liability case when a defective product caused the injury.

Employees

Workers injured by defective machinery, equipment, or safety devices may have claims beyond workers' compensation.

Depending on the specific situation, an injured worker may be able to file a third-party product liability claim against the manufacturer or another company responsible for placing the defective product on the market.

These claims can be especially important because they may allow recovery for damages not available through workers' compensation alone.

Can Someone File A Lawsuit Without Buying The Product?

Yes. Unlike contract disputes, product liability claims generally do not require the injured person to have purchased the product directly.

Manufacturers know their products will often be used by family members, coworkers, friends, customers, or other foreseeable users. As a result, the law often extends protection beyond the original purchaser.

The key question is generally not who paid for the product, but whether the injured person was using, or was foreseeably exposed to, the product when the defect caused harm.

What Types Of Defects Can Lead To Product Liability?

Product liability lawsuits generally involve one of three categories of defects.

Design Defects

A design defect exists when a product is inherently dangerous due to its design. Every product manufactured according to that design may contain the same dangerous flaw. Some common examples of this include:

• SUVs prone to rollovers
• Furniture with unstable designs
• Children's products that present choking hazards
• Medical devices with unsafe structural features

Manufacturing Defects

Sometimes the product design is safe, but mistakes occur during manufacturing. Examples of this include:

• Contaminated medications
• Cracked vehicle components
• Improperly assembled machinery
• Missing safety parts

In these cases, only certain products or production batches may be defective.

Marketing or Warning Defects

Even properly designed and manufactured products can become dangerous if consumers receive inadequate warnings or instructions. This may happen when there is:

• A failure to warn about known side effects
• Missing safety labels
• Inadequate operating instructions
• A failure to explain foreseeable risks

Manufacturers have a duty to provide reasonable warnings about dangers that are not obvious to consumers.

Who Can Be Held Responsible?

One unique aspect of product liability law is that multiple parties may share responsibility. Those parties may include:

• Product manufacturers
• Component manufacturers
• Parts suppliers
• Designers
• Importers
• Distributors
• Wholesalers
• Retail stores

An investigation often identifies every company involved in getting the product from the factory to the consumer.

This is important because large manufacturers sometimes attempt to shift blame to suppliers or distributors. A thorough legal investigation helps determine where responsibility truly lies.

Do Product Recalls Affect A Lawsuit?

A product does not have to be recalled for an injured party to file a lawsuit. In some cases, lawsuits are filed years before a recall occurs. In others, no recall is ever issued despite evidence that a product was defective.

While a recall may support a claim, the absence of a recall does not necessarily mean the product was safe.

An experienced attorney can investigate whether similar injuries, consumer complaints, government investigations, or prior lawsuits suggest a widespread defect.

Ross Feller Casey Can Help You Understand Your Rights

Determining who can bring a product liability lawsuit and who may be held responsible often requires a detailed investigation into the product, the circumstances of the injury, and the companies involved in bringing the product to market.

If you or someone you love has been injured by a defective product, the experienced lawyers at Ross Feller Casey can evaluate your case, preserve critical evidence, and pursue compensation from every responsible party. Contact Ross Feller Casey today for a free consultation.

Our cases are handled on a contingency basis, so you don’t pay until there is a financial recovery in your case.