Products Liability | Defective Products

Serving Clients in Louisiana and Nationwide

Prescription Drugs | Appliances | Medical Devices | Power Tools | Sports Equipment | SUV Rollover | Industrial Machinery | Watercraft | Scaffolding 

When you use equipment on your job, take drugs your doctor prescribes, or purchase common consumer products, such as power tools, household appliances, ladders, sports equipment, you assume the products are safe to use.

Although products are usually designed, manufactured, tested and labeled for safe use, each year defective products lead to thousands of serious injuries and death. Defects often appear after products are on the market. When unexpected hazards surface, once products are in the hands of consumers, manufacturers may issue recalls, filing notices with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, publishing announcements in magazines and newspapers and through other media outlets.  

Products defined as defective are those deemed unreasonably dangerous to people who would use the products in a normal way.

Product defects are of three types:

• Design defects
• Manufacturing defects
• Inadequate instructions or warnings regarding usage

If a defective product causes serious injury, you may be able to file a lawsuit against the manufacturer, the seller or supplier to recover compensation for medical expenses, lost wages and punitive damages. However, because you were injured does not necessarily mean the product was defective. Whether or not you have grounds for a product liability claim lies not only in an injury resulting from use of an item, but also in whether the product was defective or unexpectedly dangerous.

After an accident is it important to retain an experienced product liability attorney to review the circumstances surrounding your injury and to do so as soon as possible.  There are statutory time limits set for pursuing a legal remedy in relation to negligence or wrongful conduct. Unless a legal exception applies to your situation, once the statutory period expires, you no longer have the right to pursue a lawsuit seeking damages for your injury.

The attorneys at Smith Stag, LLC have a wealth of experience and resources to build substantive product liability cases and develop defense strategies to achieve successful outcomes for our injured clients.

When a defective product harms you, results in serious side effects or causes the death of a family member and you need legal help, please call our firm at (504) 593-9600. We will gladly provide a no cost, no obligation consultation to review your case and put our legal team to work for you.