Catastrophic Injuries Caused by Defective Products
A defective product can cause far more than a minor accident or temporary injury. When a product fails in a critical moment, it can cause traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, amputations, severe burns, paralysis, organ damage, and other catastrophic injuries that permanently change a person’s life.
Product defects can affect almost any type of consumer or commercial product. A vehicle component can fail during a collision. A power tool can malfunction and cause an amputation. A medical device can break or malfunction during treatment. A defective machine can crush a worker. A battery can overheat or catch fire. A household product can cause a serious fall or electrical injury.
California law provides several potential theories for holding manufacturers, distributors, and other parties responsible when a defective product causes injury. The circumstances matter, however.
Establishing that a product caused an injury is not necessarily enough. An investigation may need to determine what was defective, when the defect existed, how the defect caused the injury, and which parties may be legally responsible.
For someone who has suffered a catastrophic injury, understanding those issues can be an important first step toward determining whether a product-liability claim may be available.
What Makes a Product Defective?
California generally recognizes three principal categories of product defects: manufacturing defects, design defects, and inadequate warnings or instructions. The California Civil Jury Instructions address these theories of product liability and provide different standards for evaluating them.
A manufacturing defect occurs when a particular product differs from its intended design. The overall design may be safe, but something went wrong during manufacturing or assembly, causing the individual product to be defective.
A design defect involves the product’s design itself. A product can be manufactured exactly according to its specifications and still present an unreasonable risk of injury because of the way it was designed.
A warning or instruction defect involves inadequate information about risks associated with reasonably foreseeable use of the product. California recognizes failure-to-warn claims under both strict liability and negligence theories in appropriate circumstances.
These distinctions can become particularly important in catastrophic-injury cases because the severity of the injury may lead to extensive investigation into exactly what went wrong.
What Catastrophic Injuries Can Defective Products Cause?
The nature of a catastrophic injury depends on the product and the circumstances in which it failed. Some injuries are immediately apparent, while others may become more evident over time.
A defective product can potentially cause:
- Traumatic brain injuries and other serious head injuries
- Spinal cord injuries, including paraplegia or quadriplegia
- Amputations and permanent loss of limb function
- Severe burns and disfigurement
- Crushing injuries and complex fractures
- Internal organ damage
- Nerve and vascular injuries
- Permanent loss of vision or hearing
- Severe respiratory injuries
- Paralysis and other permanent disabilities
These injuries can require emergency treatment, surgery, hospitalization, rehabilitation, assistive equipment, home modifications, and long-term personal care.
The consequences may extend well beyond medical treatment. A person who was previously working may no longer be able to perform the same job. Someone who was independent may require assistance with basic activities. Family members may need to provide care or arrange for professional caregivers.
That is why a catastrophic product-liability claim often requires an examination of both the immediate injury and the person’s anticipated needs for decades into the future.
What Types of Products Can Cause Catastrophic Injuries?
Product liability is not limited to one particular category of merchandise.
Automobiles and their components can present significant risks when brakes, tires, steering components, seat belts, airbags, fuel systems, or other safety-related components are defective. A vehicle defect can turn an otherwise survivable crash into a catastrophic injury.
Industrial and construction equipment can create crushing, amputation, and other severe injury risks when guards, controls, safety mechanisms, or other components are defective.
Power tools and consumer products can cause severe lacerations, amputations, electrocutions, and other trauma when they malfunction or lack adequate safeguards.
Medical devices can also be the subject of product-liability claims when a defective device causes injury. Depending on the circumstances, the investigation may involve the device manufacturer, component manufacturers, distributors, or other entities in the chain of distribution.
Household products can create catastrophic risks as well. Defective ladders, furniture, electrical products, appliances, batteries, and other products may cause falls, fires, explosions, or other serious accidents.
The important issue is not simply what kind of product was involved. The investigation must determine what happened and whether a defect was a substantial factor in causing the injury.
How Does a Manufacturing Defect Cause a Catastrophic Injury?
A manufacturing defect may affect only some products in a particular product line.
For example, a manufacturer may design a machine with an appropriate safety guard but accidentally install an improperly manufactured component in one unit. A vehicle component may be weakened during production. A medical device may contain a component that does not meet the manufacturer’s specifications.
In these circumstances, the question may be whether the individual product differed from the manufacturer’s intended design and whether that difference caused the injury.
Evidence can be especially important because the defective condition may disappear after the accident. A broken component may be discarded, repaired, replaced, or altered before the injured person has an opportunity to have it examined.
Preserving the product and its components can therefore be critical.
Can a Product Be Defective Even If It Was Manufactured Correctly?
Yes. A product can be manufactured exactly according to its specifications and still be alleged to have a design defect.
A design defect case may examine whether the product’s design created an unreasonable risk of injury and whether an alternative design was feasible under the applicable legal standard. California’s product liability rules recognize design defect theories and provide different approaches for evaluating them depending on the circumstances.
For example, a safety mechanism might have been designed in a way that made it unusually easy to bypass. A machine might lack a reasonably feasible guard. A vehicle component might be designed in a way that creates an unreasonable risk of catastrophic failure.
These cases can require extensive technical evidence. Engineers, designers, accident reconstruction professionals, biomechanical experts, and other specialists may be needed to explain how the product worked, what went wrong, and whether an alternative design could have reduced the risk.
Can Inadequate Warnings Cause Catastrophic Injuries?
A product does not necessarily have to malfunction physically to create a product liability claim.
If a product presents a foreseeable risk that could have been reduced or avoided through appropriate warnings or instructions, the absence of adequate warnings may be relevant. California’s jury instructions recognize inadequate instructions or warnings as a separate category of product defect.
Consider a product that is capable of causing severe injury if used in a particular reasonably foreseeable way, but whose manufacturer fails to adequately warn consumers about that danger. Whether the warning was legally adequate may depend on the specific product, risk, intended or foreseeable use, and evidence concerning what the manufacturer knew or should have known.
In a catastrophic injury case, determining whether warnings were adequate can require examining product literature, packaging, manuals, testing, regulatory information, internal company documents, and the history of similar incidents.
What Evidence Can Prove a Product Was Defective?
Product liability cases can be evidence-intensive. The physical product itself may be among the most important pieces of evidence.
An investigation may examine the product, broken or failed components, photographs, maintenance and repair records, purchase information, instructions, warnings, product specifications, testing records, recall information, prior complaints, incident reports, and communications concerning the product.
Witness testimony can also be important. Someone who saw the product fail may be able to describe exactly what happened. A person who regularly operated the product may have information about unusual behavior that occurred before the catastrophic accident.
Experts may perform testing or analyze the product’s design, materials, mechanical operation, electrical systems, software, or failure mechanism.
The objective is to establish a factual chain connecting the product to the injury: what the product was supposed to do, what actually happened, why it happened, and how that failure produced the person’s injuries.
Who Can Be Responsible for a Defective Product Injury?
The manufacturer is often an important defendant, but it may not be the only potentially responsible party.
Depending on the circumstances, a claim may involve a manufacturer of the finished product, a manufacturer of a particular component, a distributor, a retailer, or another entity in the chain of distribution.
Identifying the appropriate defendants can be complicated when products contain components manufactured by different companies or pass through multiple businesses before reaching the consumer.
There may also be circumstances in which negligence claims are asserted alongside strict product liability theories. California recognizes that negligence and strict product liability are distinct bases of liability and that both may be supported by the evidence in an appropriate case.
What If Other Factors Also Contributed to the Injury?
A catastrophic accident can have more than one contributing cause.
For example, a defective vehicle component may contribute to a collision that also involves another driver’s negligence. A defective machine may malfunction while an employer or another person has also failed to follow appropriate safety procedures. A product may cause an initial injury that is then aggravated by another event.
The existence of other contributing factors does not necessarily eliminate a product-liability claim. Instead, the circumstances must be examined to determine what caused the injury and how responsibility should be allocated under the applicable law.
This makes a thorough investigation particularly important in catastrophic injury cases. An initial assumption about what caused the accident may not account for every relevant factor.
How Are Catastrophic Injury Damages Calculated?
The financial consequences of a catastrophic injury can continue for years or even for the rest of an injured person’s life.
A claim may involve past and future medical treatment, rehabilitation, prescription medications, medical equipment, attendant care, home modifications, transportation, and other injury-related expenses.
Lost income can also be substantial. If a person cannot return to the same occupation, an analysis may be necessary to determine the effect of the injury on future earning capacity.
Other damages may include physical pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, and the effects of permanent disability and disfigurement.
Because catastrophic injuries can permanently alter a person’s physical abilities and independence, evaluating future needs may require testimony from medical providers, life-care planning professionals, economists, vocational experts, and other appropriate professionals.
Why Is Preserving the Product So Important?
A defective product can be repaired, discarded, destroyed, or altered after an accident. Once that happens, evidence concerning the alleged defect may become much harder to evaluate.
An injured person should therefore be cautious about allowing the product to be thrown away or repaired before its condition has been documented and appropriate evidence has been preserved.
The same principle applies to related records. Receipts, photographs, manuals, maintenance records, communications, packaging, and other documents may become relevant to establishing what product was involved and how it was used.
Preservation can be especially important when the product is large, expensive, or controlled by another party.
How Long Do You Have to Bring a California Product Liability Claim?
Deadlines can limit the time available to pursue a catastrophic injury claim.
The general deadline for a personal injury lawsuit is two years from the date of injury, although exceptions and different rules can apply depending on the circumstances and the defendant.
Product liability cases can involve additional issues concerning when an injury was discovered, the identity of potentially responsible parties, the nature of the claim, and other circumstances that can affect applicable deadlines.
Because catastrophic product liability cases can require substantial investigation and expert analysis, it is important not to wait until a filing deadline is approaching before investigating the potential claim.
How Can a Catastrophic Injury Attorney Investigate a Defective Product?
A serious product liability case requires more than determining that a product was involved in an accident. The investigation must identify the alleged defect, preserve the product and relevant records, establish causation, identify potentially responsible parties, and document the full extent of the resulting injuries.
Kalfayan Merjanian, LLP represents people who have suffered catastrophic injuries and can investigate whether a defective product contributed to an accident. The firm works with appropriate experts as needed to analyze the product, reconstruct what happened, evaluate the medical consequences, and pursue evidence concerning the product’s design, manufacture, warnings, testing, and history.
For someone who has suffered a catastrophic injury, the effects can extend far beyond the initial accident. Permanent disability may affect employment, independence, relationships, medical needs, and quality of life for decades. When a defective product contributed to that harm, identifying the defect and the parties responsible can be an important part of pursuing compensation for the full consequences of the injury.
If you or someone you love has suffered a catastrophic injury because of a defective product, contact Kalfayan Merjanian, LLP to discuss the accident, preserve important evidence, and determine what legal claims may be available.
