Your Trusted Indiana Product Liability Attorneys

Types of Defects That Can Lead to Product Liability Cases

In a product injury lawsuit, your defective product lawyer must show that one of the following types of defects caused you harm.

Design Defects

In such cases, something in the design of the product created an unnecessary risk that caused injury or death to someone using it.

Manufacturing Defects

Defects can occur during the production or quality control process of the product, despite the product being designed properly. Defects can also come about in cases when a seller substantially modifies a product.

Marketing Defects

Marketing defects occur when the manufacturer does not provide proper labels, warnings, or instructions about how to use the product to reduce risks, or does not state that the product has an unexpected danger or must be used a certain way to be safe.

Indiana considers strict liability when it comes to product defects, so these parties can be held liable in a lawsuit for your injuries even if they were not negligent. However, if you are filing a claim based on a design defect or failure to provide adequate warning or instructions, it would have to be proven that the manufacturer or seller failed to exercise reasonable care.

These parties may have insurance, and the product liability lawyers at Stephenson Rife will hold them all accountable. Call 317-961-8609 so we can evaluate your case.

FAQs on Defective Products, Navigating Your Case, and More

When it comes to managing your individual case, trust that our Greater Indianapolis product liability lawyers have you covered. Along with providing unwavering customer support throughout the process, it’s important to note that many of our attorneys are members of the Attorneys Information Exchange Group (AIEG), which is a national organization of attorneys who represent clients injured by dangerous and defective products. This provides us with the most up-to-date knowledge on how to best address your questions and concerns.

For a more detailed understanding of how to efficiently navigate your case, review our product malfunction lawyers’ responses to some of our most commonly asked questions.

What’s your step-by-step process for investigating a product defect case?

The first step when investigating a product defect case resulting in injury is to obtain and preserve the defective product. This is critical in any product defect case because the party injured has the burden of proving the product was defectively designed or manufactured, and that this was the cause of the injury.

Without the product, it is extremely difficult to prove what the defect was that was responsible for causing the injury. In Indiana, the mere occurrence of an injury when using a product is not enough to prove the product was defective. Therefore, preserving the product in the same condition it was in immediately after the injury is critical.

What is a common misconception about defect cases that your product injury attorneys often witness?

Many clients don’t understand that being injured by a product is not enough, by itself, to bring a successful product defect claim against the manufacturer. The law necessitates more than proof of injury. Requirements include evidence that the product was sold in a defective and unreasonably dangerous condition, that the defect existed at the time the product left the manufacturer’s or seller’s control, and that the defect caused the injury.  

Are there specific products or industries where you’ve seen recurring safety issues that consumers should know about?

One of the biggest areas our Greater Indianapolis product liability lawyers see recurring safety problems is with collision avoidance features and autonomous driving or autopilot features in newer vehicles.