Product Liability Compensation Claims
When you purchase a product, you should expert to be able to use it without compromising your safety. If you receive an injury from a product it is probably due to one of two reasons; either incorrect use or it is a faulty item. If it is because of the latter, you may be entitled to product liability compensation. According to the Consumer Protection Act 1987, if a product causes personal injury, which was not due to misuse, the injured party has a legal right to make a defective product injury claim against the manufacturer or retailer responsible.
Common Types of Claim Related to Products
It is possible to make a mistake during the production of almost any type of product, although not all of these will put the consumer at risk, it does mean there are a very wide variety of product liability claims. The most common types of faulty goods claims include the following:
- Illness caused by contaminated food
- Electric shocks from electrical goods
- Skin reactions caused by faulty cosmetic products
- Burns from hair styling equipment, e.g. straightening or curling products
- Skin allergies from furniture
Claiming Defective Product Compensation
When making a product liability claim, there are a number of variables that may need to be considered. If the product carries a safety warning, though it does not remove all responsibility from the producer, it does mean that you are unlikely to win a claim if the activity in which you received the injury compromised that warning. Likewise, a manufacturer cannot be sued for any faulty counterfeit items bearing their name, or if the injury was caused by an alteration to the product after it left the producer or if it was not assembled correctly by yourself or another consumer. However, a claim can be made if you were injured by a product, even if you did not buy it yourself.
Sometimes claiming product liability compensation can be tricky, for example if a product contains various parts that were made by different manufacturers and assembled together somewhere along the line, e.g. a desktop computer, it may be hard to establish which manufacturer is to blame. Occasionally these producers may choose or be court ordered to share the responsibility in paying compensation. They may even make your case easier by identifying the cause of the problem themselves in order to disprove their own responsibility.
Lawson Taylor are experts in dealing with defective product claims. If you can prove the injury was caused by a faulty product and the injury was sustained in the previous three years, our personal injury solicitors will be able to help you. We encourage you to make a no win no fee claim with us, not only to ensure that you are compensated for your injury but to create awareness of a defect in order to prevent others from suffering a similar experience. We will guide you through the process in plain English and guarantee that you will keep 100% of the compensation you are awarded.
For advice and information on making a product liability claim, contact Lawson Taylor today.