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Product liability law is a complex area of the law that allows people who have been injured by the manufacturers of dangerous products to seek compensation for their injuries. Dangerous products that are put in the stream of commerce by manufacturers and sellers cause of thousands of injuries and deaths each year. Product liability law imposes legal liability on those in the distribution chain, which includes the product manufacturer, a manufacturer of component part, the wholesaler, and the retail store that sold the dangerous product to the injured consumer.
The attorneys at Carney, Rezendes & Crowley, LLC have successfully litigated numerous product liability claims. In a case against an international manufacturer of wood chipper machines, Attorney Brendan Carney was able to uncover that over 40 people had previously been maimed or killed by the same product. This was after the defendant manufacturer had represented to the court that only 6 such prior incidents had taken place. Due to the diligent investigation performed by Attorney Carney, the defendant manufacturer increased their pre-trial offer by over $1 million after their lie had been exposed to the court.
Product liability cases tend to be extremely complex and require a law firm with the resources necessary to pursue them. These cases almost always require the lawyer to hire expert witnesses who will prove your case. These cases are aggressively defended by wealthy manufacturers of defective products, who will stop at no cost to defend the reputation of their company and the profitability of their product. Our firm has retained experts who are nationally known in their fields, as well as some of the finest medical experts in the Boston area in order to recover compensation for our clients who have been harmed by these dangerous products.
Depending on the circumstances causing the injury and the product that caused it, strict liability may apply. Strict liability is the legal term used to describe a situation where the defendant in a lawsuit may not raise comparative negligence (i.e. blame the accident on the plaintiff) as a defense to the claim. In a typical personal injury lawsuit, comparative negligence allows a defendant to reduce the damage award by the percentage of fault assigned to the plaintiff, and actually bars recovery by the plaintiff if the plaintiff is found to be more than 50% at fault for his injury.
Massachusetts’ product liability law also may allow an injured consumer to seek double or triple damages in certain situations. The Commonwealth’s consumer protection law allows this expanded recovery for public policy reasons – to punish those who are responsible for selling products to consumers that can cause serious injury.
Examples of dangerous or defective products that can cause serious injury or death to consumers include the following:
- Construction equipment
- Power tools
- Automobiles
- Airbags
- Medical devices
- Hip replacements
- Transvaginal mesh implants
- Knee replacements
- Toys
- Prescription drugs
- Industrial Machines
- Household appliances
- Baby products
- Table saws
- Contaminated food
- Electronics and electrical equipment
- Snow blowers
- ATVs
- Boats
- Denture Cream
- Contact lenses
- Lawnmowers
- Cribs
For more information on whether you or a loved one may have legal rights to compensation for the harm caused by a defective product, contact the Carney, Rezendes & Crowley, LLC. All of our consultations are free. We accept product liability claims on a contingent fee basis, meaning we do not get paid until and unless you receive compensation.
