Product Defects

Carmel Valley Lawyer Litigates Dangerous Products

Many products used on a daily basis can potentially be defective and cause injury to adults or children who use them. If you or a loved one is injured by a defective product, the Law Office of Michael E. Ripley can file a claim on your behalf, and file a lawsuit thereafter, to protect your rights and seek compensation for you.

Generally, there are three bases for consideration in evaluating, presenting and litigating a product liability case.  They are:

  • Manufacturing defect
  • Defective design
  • Failure to warn

The types and locations of defective products that exist, and that people are exposed to, are all around us, at home, at work, and where we exercise, socialize, and play. These include:

  • Combustible appliances
  • Unsafe children’s toys
  • Toxic cleaning products
  • Defective smoke detectors
  • Poorly manufactured furniture
  • Unsafe baby cribs, or other baby equipment
  • Unsafe household tools
  • Unsafe healthcare products or pharmaceuticals

With regard to automobiles, defective products or parts can include door latches, steering mechanisms, seat belts or gas tanks.  In the evaluation and investigation of a product liability case, the potential defendants responsible for injury include:

  • The designer
  • The distributor
  • The manufacturer
  • The retailer
  • The supplier
Statute of Limitations in Product Defect Cases

The term Statute of Limitations refers to the amount of time a person has to sue for their injury. In California, the Statute of Limitations, generally, is two years from the date of the accident.  This means that if a personal injury claim cannot be resolved without a lawsuit, the lawsuit must be filed within two years of the date of the accident. Otherwise, the opportunity for a recovery is lost altogether.  If a claim or lawsuit is against a public entity (such as a City, the State of California, or a School District), there must be filed a governmental entity claim within six months of the date of the accident. As with the Statute of Limitations discussed above, if such a claim is not filed within six months, it means that the possibility of making a recovery against a governmental entity will be lost.