Product Liability Lawyers in West Tampa, FL

The experienced product liability lawyers in West Tampa, FL from Morgan and Morgan must determine the cause of a product liability incident to prove the four elements of negligence. Two types of defects represent the most common types of defects that produce dangerous consumer products.

Manufacturing Defect

A manufacturing defect develops during the production and/or assembly processes. Perhaps a flaw in the mechanics of a manufacturing machine caused a product defect or a worker on the assembly line failed to follow the proper procedure for assembling a product. A manufacturer that releases a product that contains one or more manufacturing flaws assumes legal liability for causing the injuries sustained by a consumer using the product. A product liability attorney must submit convincing evidence that a manufacturing defect happened before the release of a product.

Design Defect

The design phase of a product unfolds before the manufacturing phase of the development process. Designers collaborate to devise an original blueprint the manufacturer follows for constructing a product. One common example of a design defect that leads to product recalls concerns the design of motor vehicles.  From a poorly designed safety system to an engine design that fails to provide sufficient power, design defects plague the automotive industry. Your product liability attorney asks a few questions, such as should the manufacturer have discovered a design flaw before the product entered the construction phase of the development process.

A less common, but just as serious factor that leads to the filing of a product liability lawsuit is called “failure to warn” A failure to warn product liability lawsuit claims the plaintiff did not take the steps required to warn consumers about the potential dangers of using a product. For our child toy example, failure to warn can include a lack of a warning note that alerts parents to the possible dislodging of product parts that can cause a child to choke. Manufacturers also assume the responsibility for including instructions that prevent consumers from sustaining one or more injuries that result from using a product.

As the organization in charge of monitoring product warning protocols, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) requires manufacturers to educate consumers about the potential risks that are associated with using a product. ANSI requirements also educate consumers about possible hazards. For example, ANSI product education standards apply to microwave ovens, especially when it comes to overloading the appliances with too much food. Not only do ANSI standards educate consumers about potential risks and hazards, but the standards also require manufacturers to provide information that helps consumers avoid the risks and hazards.

The key to filing a successful product liability lawsuit involves demonstrating the presence of the four elements of negligence. One or more acts of negligence can occur during any step of the product design and manufacturing phases of the development process.

Duty of Care

Product manufacturers, distributors, and retailers assume a duty of care to protect consumers against sustaining injuries caused by a defective product. One of the product liability lawyers in West Tampa, Florida from Morgan and Morgan establishes the presence of the duty of care doctrine early in an investigation.

A Breach of the Duty of Care Doctrine

The second element to show negligence is the element that proves the manufacturer of a consumer product violated the duty of care doctrine. The team of product liability lawyers in West Tampa, FL from Morgan and Morgan gather and organize physical evidence that can include video footage shot over an assembly line and/or photographs that clearly depict a product’s flaws. Breaching the duty of care doctrine can happen at the distribution and retail levels as well. A distributor and/or a retailer can drop a product, which results in the product developing dangerous defects.

Caused Injuries

The team of litigators representing the manufacturer of a defective consumer product might admit the manufacturer breached the duty of care doctrine, but the breach did not cause your injuries. For example, let’s say a power tool produced lacerations on your arm because the tool lost stability while in operation. The team of lawyers representing the manufacturer of the power tool might claim you sustained the lacerations while performing another type of home improvement project.

Your product liability attorney from Morgan and Morgan presents medical records that show a defective product caused your injuries.

Suffered Financial Losses

Injuries sustained because using a defective product must generate financial losses. Properly dated medical bills can connect your injuries with the money spent to diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate your injuries. If you cannot prove the fourth element of negligence, the judge hearing your case will deny your request for monetary damages.

Florida follows the comparative negligence principle when assigning fault for a product liability case, Although most product liability cases place 100 percent of the fault on the manufacturer, some cases require judges to split the blame by assigning a percentage of fault to each party. For example, if a defective product caused you harm, but part of the blame falls on your shoulders because you did not install the product properly, the judge hearing your case must determine how much of the blame you should assume for causing your injuries.

If a judge awards you $100,000 in monetary damages but determines you should assume 30 percent of the blame, your net compensation declines to $70,000. Working with one of the product liability lawyers in West Tampa, Florida from Morgan and Morgan can help you avoid sharing the blame for using a defective product.

Another benefit of working with one of the best product liability lawyers in West Tampa, FL concerns filing your civil lawsuit before the expiration of the statute of limitations. Each state establishes a deadline for the filing of a product liability lawsuit, with most states setting the deadline between two and four years. However, a few states go outside the typical range for establishing a statute of limitations. Florida gives plaintiffs four years to initiate legal action against the manufacturer of a defective product. The statute of limitations starts on the day when you sustained injuries as a result of using a product designed and/or manufactured with serious flaws.

Although four years is plenty of time to collect and organize the compelling evidence you need to win a civil lawsuit, you should act with a sense of urgency and file your product liability lawsuit as quickly as possible after the day when you sustained one or more injuries. Your attorney wants to expedite your lawsuit because of the importance of interviewing witnesses as close as possible to the day of the incident that caused you harm. Witness accounts tend to be much more accurate the closer they are made to the date of a product liability incident. You also should move quickly when filing a civil lawsuit that seeks monetary damages to pay off rapidly rising medical bills.

If you fail to meet the deadline for filing a product liability lawsuit in Florida, you can expect the court clerk processing your case to remove it from the judicial docket.

How do you go about selecting the right product liability attorney to handle your case? The first factor to consider is the record of success achieved by every litigator on your shortlist of candidates. After reading the positive reviews left by our clients on sites such as Yelp and Google, you should quickly learn that Morgan and Morgan has established a record of more than three decades of proven success.

You also want a litigator who specializes in handling product liability cases. Morgan and Morgan has created different areas of expertise for our accomplished attorneys. One of the areas of legal expertise at Morgan and Morgan concerns product liability law. We have a team of attorneys who handle just Florida product liability cases. You can expect the attorney assigned to your case to stay current with the changes in Florida personal injury statutes, as well as understand how to prove the crucial four elements of negligence for product liability cases,

Get the best product liability lawyers in West Tampa, FL on your side by scheduling a free case evaluation with one of the highly rated litigators at Morgan and Morgan.