As a business owner, you certainly hope that your company is never accused of having dangerous products or defective products that have caused injury. Those who bring these types of allegations may decide to start a lawsuit, claiming that you caused the injury and the financial harm stemming from it.
To adequately defend yourself from these allegations, you need to understand exactly what types of product defects there are and what the other party is trying to prove. Let’s look at the three main types of defects below.
Manufacturing defects
These defects mean that the product was constructed improperly. If these mistakes hadn’t been made, it would have been safe, but the error has rendered it unsafe under the circumstances. For example, a company that creates chainsaws may put a guard on the side to protect against injury, but manufacturing defects could mean that the guard is mounted improperly or forgotten entirely.
Design defects
In a case like this, the allegation is that the product was designed unsafely in the first place. It may have been constructed entirely up to spec, but it is still inherently dangerous. An example of this could be if the chainsaw from the example above was designed without a guard at all.
Warning defects
Finally, there are situations in which products themselves simply have to be dangerous. Once again, a power saw is a good example of this because there will always be an inherent risk to anyone using it. As a result, certain warnings need to be included to tell the person how to handle it safely. If these warnings didn’t exist, they may claim they weren’t given the proper knowledge to be safe, even when the design was great and it was manufactured properly.
What do you do now?
When your company is facing allegations like this, it’s critical that you understand all of the legal steps you can take. It may help to work with an experienced legal team that can assist you as you explore your options.