Keep a Post-auto Accident Plan in Your Glove Box

The United States Consumer Products Safety Commissions, or CPSC, has many safety regulations and mandatory standards that manufacturers of certain products must follow to keep the public safe. Despite these regulations, many unsafe and/or defective products are still manufactured and sold to the public. Some are recalled by the manufacturers only after the safety hazards have been discovered due to an unsuspecting product user suffering an injury. 

If you or someone you love was injured due to what you think was an unsafe or defective product, then you may be able to sue the product manufacturer to receive compensation for your medical bills, pain and suffering, and time missed from work. Before you call a personal injury attorney to discuss whether you have a strong case or not, ask yourself the following two questions about the incident and product. 

1. Were You Using the Product for Its Intended Purpose?

The first thing to ask yourself if you think a product manufacturer may have caused your injury is whether you were using the product they made the way they intended it to be used. If not, then the product maker may be able to prove they were not at-fault for the accident due to their product not being used for its intended purpose. 

For example, a woman is currently attempting to sue the maker of a garden stool after it broke and cut her husband while he was using it in the shower as a shower stool. An attorney believes that the product maker may not be held liable for the accident in court due to the fact that the stool was meant for use in a garden and not in the shower. 

However, the CPSC does require that some products have warning labels on them that warn users of the hazards that could occur when a product is misused. If the manufacturer of the product was required to place this label on the product, and you can prove that the warning label was not in place, then you may still have a personal injury case. 

2. Did the Product Manufacturer Issue a Recall?

If you were injured due to a product defect and then the manufacturer issued a recall, or the manufacturer issued a recall that you were unaware of, continued using the product, and then only became aware of the recall after your injury, then you may wonder if the product recall protects the manufacturer from lawsuits. 

The truth is that you can still sue a product manufacturer for your injuries resulting from a product that was recalled at any time. While product manufacturers are responsible for issuing product recalls after they learn a product is hazardous, this recall does not protect them from legal action taken by those who already suffered injury due to the product. 

In fact, your case may be easier to win if the product that caused you to experience injury was recalled, because you won't have to prove in court that the product was faulty; the manufacturer already "admitted" it was faulty when they issued the product recall. 

If you or someone you care about suffered an injury that you believe would not have occurred if the product they were using at the time was manufactured more safely, then you may be able to sue the product maker for the cost of your medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost income from time missed from work. Speak with a personal injury lawyer to determine if you have a case and find out what evidence you need to collect to help prove it in court. Contact a company like The Gil Law Firm to get started.