South Carolina Product Liability Attorneys

A product liability lawsuit is a type of civil claim that seeks to hold a retailer, manufacturer, or designer liable for any injuries you sustain while using a product in its intended way. There are limits, however, to your ability to make a claim. If you were using the product in an unsafe way, or in a way that is unintended, you could be barred from recovering. Because South Carolina follows a form of modified comparative negligence, you could also find your damage award lowered.

Example: say you purchase a ladder to help you paint your house. Even though you’re not supposed to, you stand on the top step in order to reach part of the wall. The ladder shakes, and you fall, breaking your leg. Upon inspection, you realize that the reason the ladder was shaking was because it had a defect: there were screws missing that kept the top step secure.

If a case like this makes it to a jury, and that jury decides you are more than 50% at-fault for your own injuries, you will be denied compensation. If you are found less than 50% responsible, then your award will be reduced by your percentage fault. If the award was, say, $10,000, and you are found 40% at-fault, then you could only collect $6,000 in damages.

What are the three types of defects?

There are three categories of defects:

• Design defect. Design defects imply that the actual plans behind a product were faulty, or that the device was not tested properly.
• Marketing defects. Also called “failure to warn,” a marketing defect occurs when a device fails to list potential side effects, or when a company fails to disclose any potential problems. Failure to warn is often cited in cases involving defective drugs or medical devices.
• Manufacturing defect.A manufacturing defect is one that occurs during the building, or production, of the device. This is the rarest type of claim, but it does happen.

In many cases, a defective product can fall into more than one category. For example, General Motors manufactured a faulty ignition switch AND knew that it was defective, yet failed to recall their cars for 11 years. The same is true for Takata’s exploding airbags.