Wisconsin Products Liability

What is products liability?  Products liability is a way of getting compensation for injuries caused by a product.  What is a product?  A product is anything man made.  For example, an automobile, a home appliance, a drug, a machine, a chemical, a tool, really anything that is manufactured, changed, bottled or packaged. 

When can an injured person recover for injuries caused by a product?  Recovery for injuries caused by a product depends on whether the product was in some way defective; in other words that there was a defect in the product, a flaw, or a failure in some manner.  Who is responsible or liable for the injury caused by a product?  The responsible party can be the manufacturer, the distributor or wholesaler, the seller or the reseller or a maker of a part within the product that fails.  Injuries from products can happen at work, at play or recreation, and at home. 

There are three major types of product liability claims:

1.  manufacturing defect,
2.  design defect, and;
3.  a failure to warn (also known as marketing defects).

Manufacturing defects are those that occur in the manufacturing process and usually involve poor-quality materials or shoddy workmanship.

Design defects occur where the product design is inherently dangerous or useless (and hence defective) no matter how carefully manufactured; this may be demonstrated either by showing that the product fails to satisfy ordinary consumer expectations as to what constitutes a safe product, or that the risks of the product outweigh its benefits.

Failure-to-warn defects arise in products that carry inherent nonobvious dangers which could be mitigated through adequate warnings to the user, and these dangers are present regardless of how well the product is manufactured and designed for its intended purpose.

Blog for Products Liability

• DePuy Hip Replacement Recall

Library for Products Liability:

• Updates on the DePuy ASR Acetabular Hip Replacement Litigation and Medical Research   
  Updates on the DePuy ASR Acetabular Hip Replacement Litigation and Medical Research
• DePuy ASR Hip Replacement Recall   
  On August 26, 2010, DePuy Orthopedics, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, announced the recall of its hip implants known as the ASR XL Acetabular and ASR Hip Resurfacing systems. The DePuy ASR hip was implanted in 93,000 patients worldwide. Up to one in eight patients may be forced to undergo revision surgery due to a high early failure rate with the DePuy ASR artificial hip.
• Defective Punch Press/Metal Forming Machines   
  One very important area of products liability is industrial machinery. Machines used in factories can be extremely dangerous to workers. Many serious injuries and deaths have been caused by defective and dangerous machinery.
• Industrial Machines - a leading cause of products liability injuries   
  Unreasonably dangerous machines are one of the leading causes of on the job injuries. Some of the more common machines that have injured workers are: conveyers, press brakes, drill presses, sheers, cutters, printing presses, saws, smelters, pressure vessels, and injection molding machines.
• Three Legal Theories for Products Liability   
  Step one of any personal injury claim is arriving at a legal theory to establish liability on the at fault party. There are three primary legal theories that form the basis of products liability law. They are 1) Breach of Warranty; 2) Negligence; and 3) Strict Liability.

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Frequent Questions for Products Liability:

• What is products liability?
• What is a product?
• When can an injured person recover for injuries caused by a product?
• Who is responsible or liable for the injury caused by the product?
• If I think I’ve been injured by a defective product, what should I do?

Web Resources for Products Liability:

• U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

  Description: The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from thousands of types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

• Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade & Consumer Protection

  Description:

  We are the agency responsible for food safety, animal and plant health, protecting water and soil and monitoring fair and safe business practices. We inspect and license more than 100,000 businesses and individuals, analyze millions of laboratory samples, conduct hundreds of hearings and investigations, educate businesses and consumers about best practices, adopt rules that have the force of law, and promote Wisconsin agriculture at home and abroad.

  
  

   

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