Companies will do whatever they can to defend themselves from the significant financial and reputational damage they can suffer in a successful product liability claim. At the Weycer Law Firm, we have decades of experience pursuing compensation from negligent companies on our client’s behalf and are familiar with the tactics employed by liability defense teams and insurers. Our product liability attorneys will take the arduous legal battle off your shoulders so you can focus on your recovery.
Common Defense Strategies Employed by Manufacturers, Distributors, Retailers and Their Lawyers
No Defect Exists
The company may deny that the defect exists at all, and your injuries were from some other unrelated cause. Evidence is key to defeating this strategy, which is why it’s so important to keep the defective product that caused your injury and not to have it repaired.
Evidence collection is key in these scenarios, from the receipt verifying your ownership of the product to photos and videos documenting the defect in detail.
Misuse or Alteration
Companies may claim that you were only injured because you didn’t use their product as intended or altered it in a manner that made it unsafe and led to your injury. The best proof is the product itself. With the product in evidence, your legal team can make clear it hasn’t been modified and show the product’s blueprints to prove that the original design was a main factor in your injuries.
Lack of Causation
Another common defense is that your injuries are unrelated to their product and can instead be attributed to other factors, such as a pre-existing condition. Our attorneys can use your medical records to confirm there’s a clear link between the defective product and your injuries.
While pre-existing conditions can influence the outcome or compensation in some situations, simply having a pre-existing condition does not free the manufacturer from liability.
Contributory Negligence
Contributory negligence doctrine is a common defense in all types of injury claims. In product liability cases, companies may admit that, while their product is partly at fault for your injuries, you are equally or primarily at fault due to misuse of some kind.
For example, if you suffer a severe foot injury due to a defective lawn mower, but you happened to be mowing the lawn while wearing sandals when the injury occurred, the manufacturer may acknowledge the defect but argue the injury wouldn’t have happened, or would have been less severe, had you been wearing proper footwear as was recommended in the safety instructions included with the lawnmower.
That said, even if you were partially at fault, as long as you are less than 50 percent liable, Houston plaintiffs can still pursue compensation.
Assumption of Risk
Defendants in a product liability claim can argue that they’re not liable because you were aware (or should have been aware) of the risks associated with their product and used it anyway. Your legal team can cite a lack of adequate warnings or instructions to combat assumption of risk defenses.
We may also be able to challenge their assertion that you should have been expected to know about the risk when using the product. Being able to cite prior recalls or similar injury lawsuits related to the product can help show that there’s precedent for users not being aware of the risks involved.
If you signed a liability waiver, such as for a car or equipment rental, your ability to recover damages can potentially be hindered. However, these waivers are not always enforceable. They do not protect companies from gross negligence, willful misconduct or misrepresentation. The wording of these waivers are often ambiguous or unclear, which can greatly diminish their ability to shield businesses or organizations that use them.
Our attorneys will thoroughly review your waiver and give you realistic expectations on its effectiveness and potential influence on your claim.
State of the Art
“State of the art” is a unique type of defense in which a company claims that their product was manufactured using the latest technology and knowledge available at the time and thus can’t be held to new industry standards.
In Olson v. Arctic Enterprises, Inc., the plaintiff said that the snowmobile they sold him should have come with a passenger grip and adequate footrests. Arctic Enterprises, Inc. proved that no snowmobile had those features at the time the plaintiff bought his snowmobile, leading to the plaintiff losing his case.
There are effective challenges to this defense, like using industry regulations and expert testimony to verify that there were safer alternative designs available at the time that the manufacturer failed to utilize.
Our Houston Product Liability Attorneys Are Ready to Fight for You
If you or a loved one has been injured by a defective product, the skilled attorneys at the Weycer Law Firm will work hard to increase your chances of maximizing your compensation. We’re on your side and will negotiate with and litigate against negligent manufacturers and retailers to ensure you’re able to recover the entirety of the costs you’ve incurred.
To discuss your case one-on-one with an attorney, call (713) 668-4545 or explore our product liability page today.
