Injury or Death from the Defective Design of a Product

In an injury or death resulting from the defective design of a product, the claim is that the product functioned as it was designed but the design was negligent. That is a reasonable manufacturer should have known that the design of the product was defective, that it was foreseeable that the design could cause injury or death to the user of the product. Once a hazard, which is a condition that may cause injury or death, is identified in a product, the design engineer must follow an accepted design priority recognized by all design engineers in reducing the possibility of the dangerous condition of the product causing injury or death.

1. The dangerous condition must be designed out of the product if such can be done without destroying the utility of the product. If this can’t be done then:

2. The dangerous condition of the product must be guarded against. If the dangerous condition of the product can’t be guarded against then:

3. A warning must be given that the dangerous condition of the product can cause injury or death.

In the United States, the claims most commonly associated with product liability are negligence, strict liability, breach of warranty, and various consumer protection claims. The majority of product liability laws are determined at the state level and vary widely from state to state. Each type of product liability claim requires different elements to be proven to present a successful claim.

The New York Product Liability Lawyers at Gair, Gair, Conason, Rubinowitz, Bloom, Hershenhorn, Steigman & Mackauf have more than 40 years of experience representing victims injured or killed by the defective design of a product.