Product liability lawsuits are rare because they’re complicated to fight when seeking compensation. These lawsuits come about when a specific product injures someone, and they believe it’s due to a defect or manufacturer error. Product liability cases can be against cars, medicines, electronics, or others.
If you’ve suffered a defective product injury, hiring a qualified product liability attorney who knows how to get you the compensation you deserve in your product liability case is essential. Even though these lawsuits are hard to seek compensation for, it can happen, but it’s more complicated than other types of personal injury cases.
Why Product Liability Is Difficult to Prove
It can be frustrating and even life-changing when an accident or injury happens, thanks to a product. With many personal injury cases, proving liability and seeking compensation is considered “easy” compared to product liability.
There are several reasons why proving liability due to a product is much more challenging than in other cases. One of the main reasons is that it could be an isolated incident. For example, it’s straightforward to blame the manufacturer if you’re in a car accident due to faulty brakes.
While they should have performed brake checks to ensure the driver’s safety and that others are on the road, it can be much harder to prove that the manufacturer is at fault if this is an isolated incident with only one person. You’re far less likely to get the compensation you deserve when you cannot establish liability.
There are Time Limits for Product Liability Lawsuits
The main reason why proving liability in product liability lawsuits is problematic is that there are time limits for which you can seek compensation. Every state has different time limits backed by laws for which an individual can seek compensation for product liability.
In Nevada, someone injured or harmed thanks to a product has to seek a lawsuit within four years of the date of the injury. While most people in personal injury cases fight for compensation right away or soon after the accident, sometimes people don’t realize a specific product was the reason for their accident until months or years later.
This often happens with car recalls. Suppose you were in an accident and didn’t seek a product liability lawsuit because you weren’t aware of the accident when more reports of similar accidents for your car model came out years later. In that case, you should seek compensation.
The length of time between the accident and the lawsuits is critical in seeking compensation. Even if you are within the four-year time frame outlined by Nevada law, seeking compensation can be more challenging because the other side can argue that you no longer need the compensation years later.
Product Liability Damages
If you can secure compensation for an injury from a defective product, you could be entitled to economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages are easier to prove with product liability lawsuits usually.
Economic
Economic damages include all your medical bills, lost wages, etc., that you need thanks to the injury from a faulty product. Seeking compensation for these is more manageable because if the injury is severe, there will be a police report or a medical record of your injuries.
Non-Economic
Hypothetically, if you didn’t go to the hospital or doctor post-product injury, seeking compensation will be ten times more difficult for your personal injury attorney, especially when you’re seeking non-economic compensation.
Non-economic compensation is if your quality of life has suffered due to the injury and other similar factors. The company that produced the product could argue that the injury wasn’t bad or didn’t happen without proof of an injury from a medical source.
Conclusion
Product liability lawsuits are similar to personal injury lawsuits but are much harder to obtain compensation for. Because of time limits set forth by the government and pushback from major companies, you’ll need a qualified attorney ready to fight for compensation from you if you have a product liability lawsuit.