New York City Product Liability Lawyers

A defective product lawsuit can be a lifeline for an injured consumer. If you have been harmed by a defective product, you likely have medical bills, missing wages, and pressing questions you need answers to. You might feel betrayed by a company that you trusted, or be understandably outraged on behalf of an injured loved one.

Our New York City product liability lawyers are available to aggressively advocate for your needs and interests. A product liability lawsuit can be a way not only to recover some of your costs but also send a message to a manufacturer, distributor, or advertiser that enough is enough.

Do I Need a Product Liability Lawyer in New York?

Product liability lawyers protect consumers who have been harmed by defective products. An experienced defective product attorney knows what kinds of evidence are necessary to bring your claim against a major corporation. They have specialized knowledge of the various types of product liability claims and know how to strengthen your case under New York-specific laws and statutes.

Like in insurance defense cases, most product liability lawsuits are up against an army of trained corporate attorneys attempting to challenge the validity of a consumer’s claim. You need an equally experienced and competent team of attorneys by your side to help you fight back. Ours can present your case as well as provide counter-arguments against the team of corporate lawyers hired to protect the company’s bottom line.

At Pitta & Baione LLP, our New York City product liability lawyers have years of experience standing up for injured New Yorkers. We serve as expert negotiators on our clients’ behalf, as well as compassionate listeners for your needs. We structure your claim to your best advantage, as we take our responsibility to represent injured New Yorkers’ best interests seriously.

What Is Product Liability?

Product liability is an area of tort law that provides relief, usually in the form of monetary compensation, to harmed consumers. Section 402A of the Restatement of Torts states, “One who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer or to his property is subject to liability for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer.” This can be understood as a kind of responsibility that companies have to those who use their products as intended.

When consumers are harmed by defective products or by a company’s negligence, they may be able to recover compensation via a product liability lawsuit.

What Is a Product Liability Lawsuit?

To bring a successful product liability claim, you will need to prove:

• That the product you used was defective. This can be in how it was manufactured, designed, marketed, or sold.
• That you, as the consumer, used the product appropriately.
• That the defect in the product caused some kind of harm.
• That you can be compensated financially for the harm you have endured.

New York’s standard of “joint and several liability” is crucial when bringing a product liability lawsuit. In complicated situations wherein multiple parties may be liable, you may be able to recover full compensation from whichever party is best able to pay. In product liability law, both the distributor and the manufacturer of a defective product may be liable for the harm done to a consumer.

For example, a manufacturer is a small business with minimal ability to pay for a consumer’s medical bills. The distributor, however, is a massive chain that commissioned the defective product to be made and therefore shares in the liability for both the design and the sale. In this case, a good product liability lawyer can prove the distributor is “jointly and severally liable” and therefore can pay more than the manufacturer who may only be able to pay a smaller amount.

However, Section 1601 of New York’s CPLR states that a party is only liable for their share of a plaintiff’s non-economic damages when they are less than 50% at fault. For this reason, proving the amount of shared liability is crucial to making a full economic recovery in a product liability claim.

Types of Product Liability Claims

There are many different kinds of product liability claims. Recent product liability cases in New York involve landmark judgments against pharmaceutical manufacturers who failed to warn users about the cancer risks associated with using their products, as well as debates over who in particular has contributed substantively to the opioid epidemic, and whether tech companies can be held liable for what happens on their platforms. These areas of consumer protection fall under the larger umbrella of tort law.

Most product liability claims are grouped into three categories of corporate responsibility:

• Design defects: A product’s design is inherently unsafe for consumers. Examples include addictive painkillers or a car that is more likely to roll over in an accident.
• Manufacturing defects: A manufacturer creates a product in such a way as to make it unsafe. For example, airbags that are missing a crucial part during assembly, and therefore deploy without warning, or toxic lead paint used on children’s toys.
• Failure to warn: Products that carry risks that consumers have the right to know about before purchasing them but that were not supplied with a warning label. A medication that has risky side effects or a supplement that is not suitable for pregnant women should come with this sort of warning.

What Are the Components of a Product Liability Case?

A product liability case is unique in how liability is assigned to the parties involved in the production of a defective product. A product liability case can be brought under the applicable branch of New York State law, some of which include:

• Strict product liability: Product liability law differs from personal injury law in that, under the doctrine of strict liability, you do not need to prove that the company behind a defective product was acting intentionally or even being negligent. The product’s defectiveness is what is considered; however, if a consumer’s own actions contributed to the harm they suffered, then product liability may be more difficult to prove.
• Breach of implied warranty: Under breach of implied warranty, it must be proven that a product defect existed when the manufacturer delivered that product to the purchaser or user and that the defect caused that injury. The manufacturer has de facto warranted that the product will perform in a certain way and so, if it does not, they can be held liable for the harm it causes.
• Negligence: A company that has acted negligently, i.e. by failing to warn the consumer about potential harm, can be held accountable for the harm their actions have caused. Product negligence may result in additional damages paid to the consumer if the company not only sold the defective product but also acted negligently by failing to act once they knew of the risk.

Possible Defenses in a Product Liability Claim

A product liability case often hinges upon the ability to prove causation. Many companies will not admit to product malfunction and will instead allege product misuse as a common defense. They could claim that the way in which the consumer used their product caused the harm, not the product itself.

A good faulty product lawyer will be able to link their client’s injury directly to the product’s defect. It can be challenging to prove causation since clients often have pre-existing conditions or concerns that led them to use the product in the first place. Successful product malfunction lawyers will be able to pinpoint the scope of the harm done and illustrate how their client was not only using the product correctly, but also how the harm they suffered was directly caused by the product’s defect.

What Are the Damages Awarded in a Successful Product Liability Lawsuit?

Damages in a product liability lawsuit can be economic as well as non-economic. Economic expenses are costs you can provide a receipt for that are directly related to the harm suffered. These typically include medical bills, including ambulance rides, overnight hospital stays, prescription medication costs, and physical rehabilitative care.

Economic damages may also include payments for lost wages during recovery, as well as property damage and the cost of related repairs. Economic damages are not necessarily costs that have come out of your own pocket, but they do need to be related to the harm done by a defective product. For instance, economic damages can also include payments for future expenses, like lost earning capacity due to permanent disability.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages, on the other hand, are harder to quantify. These can involve payouts for the pain and suffering you have endured as an injured consumer. They might also include loss of enjoyment, emotional distress, loss of consortium, and other kinds of harm done that cannot be proven with a receipt.

Some cases involve especially reckless actions taken by a company, and in these, you could be entitled to punitive damages. For instance, a company may be ordered to pay punitive damages if a New York product liability lawyer can prove they knew about the risks associated with their product and covered it up by suppressing reports from previously injured consumers.

How Long Do I Have to File a Product Liability Lawsuit in New York City?

New York’s defective product law, CPLR §214(3), allows you three years from the date of the accident to file a product liability claim. Waiting to file can result in your claim being dismissed as a violation of the statute of limitations.

Why Should I Contact Pitta & Baione LLP for Help with a Product Liability Claim?

Our New York City law firm is experienced with product liability cases as well as consumer protection law. Our established presence in the New York City legal scene makes us reliable and respected advocates for injured New Yorkers. We conduct a thorough investigation into the details of your claim and can provide connections to expert witnesses as well as other elements that strengthen your case for compensation.

Our defective product lawyers are skilled negotiators and litigators. We know which settlement amounts are fair and when to reject a lowball offer for our clients.

Have a Product Liability Claim? Contact an Experienced Attorney to Learn More

A product injury lawyer at Pitta & Baione LLP can evaluate the facts of your product liability claim and help you make an informed decision about how to proceed. At Pitta & Baione LLP, we have spent years standing up for injured New Yorkers. We treat our clients like our neighbors – because they are – and we bring our signature attention to detail, aggressive representation, and trained legal eye to every case we take on.

Contact us for help today.