In the modern world, mass-produced products are a ubiquitous part of our daily lives. This ubiquity also makes it highly important to regulate the quality and safety of consumer products, particularly given how many deaths and injuries are reported as a result of faulty products. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that approximately 38,573,000 people went to a doctor or other medical professional in 2010 for injuries associated with a consumer product. Keep reading to be able to protect yourself from some of the most common defective products in the Garden State. Remember that if you or a loved one has been lightly or gravely hurt by a product, an Essex County product liability lawyer can help you get compensation for your injuries
Common Defective Products
It will come as no surprise that the types of products known to cause the most injuries are also some of the most frequently used, day-to-day items. These can include auto products, construction and workplace equipment, equipment for sports and recreation, household products, as well as medication and medical and pharmaceutical devices that did not have adequate warnings. Each of these categories, in turn, has several items that fall within them.
For instance, defective construction and work equipment encompasses made-man tools of the trade like cranes and forklifts, but also unsafe materials that are known to exist where the work or construction is taking place, such as asbestos.
Products used daily around the home, like lawnmowers and power tools, frequently cause injuries. Ordinary tools like automobiles contain many potentially defective parts, like seat belts, car roofs, brakes, safety features such as airbags, and finally tires.
Baseball bats and paintball guns are counted among sports equipment known to hurt others because of common defects. Medications like Chantix and health devices like hip implants also often harbor defects.
The specific injuries that can arise from defective products are varied. Someone may choke or burn themselves. Especially in the case of improperly labeled medicine, someone may end up recovering from having poisoned themselves. When we talk about construction tools or cars, someone may have been electrocuted.
What Should I Do if I’ve Been Injured by a Defective Product?
Whatever the particular harm that befell you was, New Jersey has a couple legal mechanisms to help you get compensated for your injuries: strict liability and negligence.
Under negligence, you would need to prove that the defendant was unreasonably careless or purposefully took an action that resulted in your injury. Under strict liability, however, you only need to prove that the product was unsafe when you bought it, the seller did not expect that buyers would later modify the product, and you subsequently used that product as intended, only for the product to injure you.
Be aware that in New Jersey, product liability lawsuits have a two-year statute of limitations. The only exception is made for children if the plaintiff was a minor when the injury occurred, in which case the state may grant an extension to the statute of limitations.
