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In Florida, if you have been injured due to a product that was in a dangerous condition or otherwise presented a hazard as a result of it having been defectively manufactured, you may be entitled to recover damages to compensate for your injuries.  In fact, Florida law provides injury claimants who are pursuing a lawsuit in this category — that of product liability — a number of advantages that help to ease the litigation burden.

To understand how injury claims based on manufacturing defects work, we’ll first have to take a look at product liability claims generally.

Three Categories of Product Liability

Product liability claims in Florida are split into three categories.

Defective Design

A product that has been defectively designed involves a defect that affects the fundamentals of the whole product line.  Each and every manufacturing “batch” will generally exhibit the same defect until the design is changed to avoid the unreasonably dangerous condition created by the defect.  For example, a blender might be defectively designed if the blender cap is not properly fitted for the cylinder, resulting in a loose cap that can come off during use.

Defective Manufacture

A product that has been defectively manufactured involves a defect that exists with one product, or a “batch” of products.  Defectively manufactured products are not necessarily defectively designed.  A well-designed product can be negligently manufactured, creating a serious injury hazard that was unanticipated by the product designers.  For example, a knife might be defectively manufactured if the blade material used during manufacture is cheaper and more fragile than the intended material (as per the design documents) — and if this blade material results in the creation of a dangerous chipping hazard.

Failure to Warn

Product liability defendants have a duty to warn end-users about inherently dangerous aspects of their product.  For example, imagine that the handle of a coffee maker presents an injury hazard — in the moments after the coffee is made, the handle of the coffee pot heats up to a temperature that could burn the user.  The user must wait a few minutes to avoid the burning hazard.  As this hazard might not be avoidable, the defendant must adequately label or otherwise warn end-users of the hazard so that they can avoid it.

These claims are not exclusive from one another.  A product can be defective in a variety of ways, and further, the defendant may have known about the defects but failed to warn consumers.

Strict Liability — How it Works

Product liability defendants — here, manufacturers — are held to a strict liability standard pursuant to Florida law.  Essentially, a manufacturer can be held liable so long as you can show that their product is defective and that the defect caused your injuries.  It is not necessary for you to show that the manufacturer acted negligently in creating the defect.

Strict liability may appear a bit odd to those unfamiliar with personal injury litigation, but strict liability is incredibly useful from a public policy perspective because it shifts the cost burden of defective products to the manufacturer, who — as a business — is better able to absorb the costs.  Further, because manufacturers are creating the defects in the first place, they are the actors best-positioned to correct the defects.

Contact Randall Spivey to connect with a skilled Fort Myers defective product attorney at the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A.  We will provide a free and confidential consultation to discuss your legal rights.