Defective Products

Savannah Attorneys Advocating for Injured Consumers

When you buy a toy, car, appliance, or other consumer item, you do not expect to be injured by it. You assume that the manufacturer has conducted the proper tests to make sure that the product is safe to use and will warn you of any risks. Unfortunately, this is not always true. Sometimes manufacturers rush to market with a drug that turns out to be dangerous or a tool that promises to make life easier but instead is unreasonably unsafe. If you are hurt or a loved one is killed by a defective product, you may be able to recover damages by retaining a personal injury attorney to bring a lawsuit. At the Suthers & Harper, our Savannah product liability lawyers are ready to advocate for your rights.

Bringing a Claim Based on a Defective Product

Product liability lawsuits seek to hold a manufacturer, distributor, designer, or seller of a defective product responsible for injuries arising out of its use. Almost any type of consumer good that is placed in the stream of commerce to be consumed by the public may give rise to a product liability lawsuit, including prescription drugs, prepared foods, beverages, and farming equipment.

In Georgia, O.C.G.A section 51-1-11 provides for a manufacturer’s strict liability for injuries caused by personal property sold as new. Our product liability lawyers can help Savannah residents and others try to establish that the defendant manufactured a product that was defective when it left the defendant’s control, and the defect was the cause of their injuries. Strict liability is usually considered more favorable to plaintiffs because you do not need to establish that the defendant owed a duty to you or that this duty was breached. The rationale behind strict liability is that the manufacturer is in the best position to learn of dangerous defects and will know how to correct them.

However, only a manufacturer may be strictly liable, rather than a seller or other entities. A manufacturer is a company that designed or manufactured the product that caused the injuries or the components of the product that caused the injuries, or it is an assembler of component parts that sells an assembled product as a single product under a trade name of its own. Generally, Georgia courts only apply strict liability to entities that are actively involved in designing, producing, or assembling products.

Sometimes a manufacturer may be held liable for a failure to adequately warn of risks associated with using a product. A manufacturer’s duty to warn consumers depends on numerous factors, including the foreseeability of the danger. If there is a duty to warn of risks, it may be breached by a failure to warn of the risks or a failure to adequately communicate the warning to consumers. The court will look at the presentation of the warning, including its font size and its use of symbols, when deciding whether there has been a failure to communicate.

Discuss Your Claim With a Product Liability Lawyer in Savannah

The Suthers & Harper may be able to represent you in a lawsuit for damages if you need a defective drug lawyer or assistance in bringing another type of claim against a manufacturer. We also help injured people in Atlanta, Watkinsville, Norcross, Lawrenceville, Roswell, Athens, Marietta, Stone Mountain, Decatur, Pooler, Brunswick and Statesboro, as well as other areas of Oconee, Gwinnett, Clark, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Chatham, Glynn and Bulloch Counties. Contact us by calling 1.800.320.2384 or completing our online form to set up a free consultation with a Savannah product liability attorney.