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Product Liability Injuries

Products Liability in the News

Sony Laptop Batteries: Sony said last week that about 9.6 million lithium-ion batteries, manufactured between August 2003 through February this year, are being recalled worldwide after reports of some computers using the Sony battery packs overheating and bursting into flames.

Tainted Spinach: Federal food safety agents recalled bagged spinach traced to a batch processed at the San Juan Bautista plant of Natural Selection Foods LLC, which packages spinach under 34 brand names including Dole, the brand eaten by many of the sickened people. Test results found the same strain of the deadly E. coli bacteria in cow manure at a cattle ranch near a Salinas Valley spinach farm earlier this month, but it's still unclear how the pathogen traveled to the plants.

Acetaminophen Recall:The recall affects 11 million bottles containing varying quantities of 500-milligram acetaminophen caplets made by the Perrigo Co. The pills were sold under store brands by Wal-Mart, CVS, Safeway and more than 120 other major retailers, the Food and Drug Administration said. At least two chains -- CVS Corp. and SuperValu Inc. -- started pulling the pills from store shelves.

Products Liability Claims in Virginia

Virginia attorney Mike Imprevento heads the products liability division of Breit, Drescher & Imprevento, P.C. In addition to handling numerous cases involving defective design of SUVs, trucks, boats and small planes, Mike and his staff have handled cases involving pharmaceuticals, numerous power tools and industrial machinery, food, asbestos, lead paint, defective medical devices and contraceptives, and numerous other products that have caused harm to the public, civilian and military. If you or a loved one has been injured by a product you bought, the law is on your side. Contact Breit, Drescher & Imprevento for a free and immediate review of your case. What is Product Liability? Thousands of injuries are caused each year by dangerous and defective products. Typically, these injuries fall under the category of product liability law. Manufacturers or sellers who place a dangerous product in the marketplace can be held liable. All of those within the supply chain can be held responsible for dangers in the end-product. Responsible parties can include the manufacturer of the product; the supplier of component parts; the wholesaler, and the retail store that sold the products. Under Virginia law, there are three major causes of defective products. They can include, but are not limited to the following:

• Defective designs
Defective designs are flaws in the design of a product that makes it unduly dangerous. Design defects occur when the engineering or design process used by a company to design a product is faulty, resulting in a product that is unnecessarily dangerous. With a design defect, all of the items that come off a company's assembly line have the same defect.
• Manufactured Improperly
When a product is manufactured improperly, it was not manufactured as designed. There may be nothing wrong with the overall design of the product; but it may have become flawed during assembly. Products that were manufactured improperly are normally much easier to prove because the manufacturer’s own designs can be used to show that the product is defective.
• Marketing Defects
Marketing defects take place when a product is improperly labeled, comes with unclear or incomplete instructions, and/or does not warn consumers about a products hidden danger.

Product Liability: The Law is on Your Side If you have been injured by a defective or dangerous consumer product, you may have an easier time recovering compensation for your injuries than those who are injured in other ways. This is because special rules and theories of recovery have been developed in the area of product liability law. In a Virginia court, a person may recover against a manufacturer or seller based on one or both of the following theories: negligence and breach of warranty. The breach of warranty cause of action is particularly important. In most other types of personal injury law, to hold someone liable for your injuries, you must show that they were negligent, and that their negligence caused your injuries. However, it would be outrageously expensive and incredibly difficult for an individual to show how and where a manufacturer was negligent in manufacturing a particular product. In a breach of warranty action, a plaintiff can recover damages without actually showing that the manufacturer or seller of a product was negligent. A non-manufacturer who sold or rented a product and is in the business of regularly selling or renting that particular kind of product warrants that the product is safe, fit and merchantable and is as responsible as the designer and manufacturer of the product. The conduct of the defendant in bringing the product to market is not relevant, just the objective safety of the product itself. This ultimately benefits consumers who seek redress in court. This is analogous to the strict liability cause of action that is in effect in many states, but not Virginia. It is just as effective. Breit, Drescher & Imprevento has handled strict liability claims in other jurisdictions with good results. While you do not have to prove a manufacturer’s or seller’s culpability, in order to make a breach of warranty claim you must be able to prove that the product was defective and/or dangerous. You must be able to prove that the product injured you and that you did not substantially alter the condition of the product. Finally, you must prove that you were using the product as it was manufactured to be used. However, Virginia courts have held that contributory negligence of a plaintiff is not a bar to recovery in a breach of warranty action, but it might be in a negligence action. If you are injured by a defective product, it is important to gather as much information as soon as possible. Record what happened, get the names and phone numbers of any witnesses, and anything else you feel should be recorded. Recording as much information as possible is incredibly helpful to you and your attorney during the claims process.

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Library for Product Liability Injuries:

• FEMA Trailer Immunity: Should We Be Surprised?   
  Description: FEMA recently applied for immunity from lawsuits over their use of ammonia-laden trailers. Virginia Injury Attorneys Breit, Drescher and Imprevento are not surprised.
• Thomas The Tank Engine Lead Settlement Is How a Business Should Conduct Itself   
  Description: The company that manufactured the lead painted Thomas the Tank Engine toys came to a fast settlement and a promise to clean up their act. If only other companies caught in product liability cases would do the same.
• The Other Cost of Foreign Goods   
  Description: Cheap foreign goods have been flooding the market for years now. Unfortunately, foreign manufacturers don't place a very high premium on quality control.
• Medtronic Investigation   
  Description: Defibrillator lawsuit. The law firm of Breit, Drescher & Imprevento, P.C. is pursuing litigation against Medtronic, Inc. related to the implantation, removal and replacement of defibrillators. Marquis, Maximo, Insync models, ICDs, CRT-Ds.
• Guidant Investigation   
  Description: Defibrillator lawsuits. Pacemaker lawsuits. The law firm of Breit, Drescher & Imprevento is investigating Guidant, maker of defibrillators and pacemakers, for defects in a variety of their products.

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Frequent Questions for Product Liability Injuries:

• What does product liability mean?
• What sort of damages am I eligible for in a product liability case?
• Is there a certain amount of time that I have to file my product liability claim?

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Case Results for Product Liability Injuries:

• Products Liability case nets record settlement - $14,000,000
• Jury awards $4.1 million to injured forklift driver - $4,100,000
• Virginia Power settles land-contamination law suit -

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Web Resources for Product Liability Injuries:

• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• CPSC Recalls and Product Safety News
• CPSC Standards and Research
• CPSC Toy Safety Guide
• What the CPSC ISN'T responsible for

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