Product Liability: What Constitutes a Claim in Nevada?

Thousands of people a year are injured because of faulty products. Product liability cases are brought when a manufacturer is accused of inadequately designing, manufacturing, or marketing their product to the consumer. An experienced attorney can help you recover compensation if you’ve been the victim of a faulty product.

Companies, under product liability law in Nevada, have the responsibility to design and manufacture products that are safe to use and to inform consumers of any potential hazards. If a product is defective and causes harm to the consumer, the consumer may have legal grounds to seek compensation.

What kind of products usually falls under this law?

The types of consumer products that are typically involved in these cases include:

• Cars or other vehicles
• Children’s toys
• Mechanical parts
• Home appliances
• Machinery
• Electronic devices
• Construction Equipment
• Food products
• Lawn mowers
• Grills
• Baby cribs
• Car tires
• Medical equipment
• Child strollers
• Prescription medicines

The list goes on. Whether it’s your car’s blown tire, your child’s trike, or your gas grill, product liability cases can come in many shapes and sizes. This great variation in what could constitute a product liability claim can make for complex cases in Nevada and beyond. So, what exactly are the types of product liability cases? Let’s take a look.

Three Types of Product Liability Cases

While product liability claims can vary greatly depending on the defective products and additional circumstances, they generally fall under three different cases.

1. Design defect

This refers to products that were designed with serious flaws that make it dangerous to consumers. This means the product, from its inception, was designed with a serious defect that could make it potentially hazardous to those buying and using it.

2.  Manufacturing defect

Some products are designed safely, but at some point in the manufacturing process, they are created in a faulty manner, rendering them hazardous to consumers. This could result in hundreds of thousands of perfectly safe products, with a small grouping of items manufactured with a dangerous flaw. This is typically referred to as negligence by the manufacturer.

3. Insufficient or inadequate notification of hazards

 Marketing is important in the creation of a product, and even if an item is made perfectly correctly to design, a company could still be held liable for not warning consumers of potential harm. This often plays out in improper labeling, lack of instructions or incorrect instructions all together.

What constitutes a product liability claim in Nevada? 

You may be able to recover compensation if you were injured by a defective product. However, how do you know if your situation constitutes a claim in the state of Nevada? It primarily boils down to negligence. Negligence is present in a case if the company had a duty to the injured person and if their failure to act caused the person to be injured.

In these cases specifically, a plaintiff has to prove negligence. The main tenets that you have to prove in a product liability claim include:

• The manufacturer was liable for consumers care when using product and the care was not upheld.
• The failure to provide care for the consumer lead to your injuries.
• You sustained serious damages as a result.

This is a good starting point, but these types of cases can be very complex. They often require expert testimony and in-depth inquiries into the rights and duties of manufacturers.

If you believe you’ve been the victim of a faulty product, don’t hesitate to contact the De Castroverde Law Group in Las Vegas, NV. De Castroverde is dedicated to helping victims in these cases get the justice and compensation they deserve.

Dangerous Drugs & Product Liability

The pharmaceutical industry makes billions of dollars each year, and millions of Americans use prescription drugs and over the counter medications each day. Although these drugs are intended to help people, what can victims do if they actually cause more harm?

If you have been injured by a pharmaceutical drug, you may be able to seek compensation through a product liability claim. There are three main types of defective product claims filed for dangerous drug injuries.

Pharmaceutical drugs with manufacturing defects.
These claims involve injuries caused by pharmaceutical drugs that have been manufactured improperly or tainted in some way. The defect can occur when the drug is manufactured, at the pharmacy where the drug is bottled, when the drug is labeled, or any other situation in which an error is made before the victim received the drug.

Pharmaceutical drugs with dangerous side effects.
These claims involve injuries caused by pharmaceutical drugs that have serious side effects that cause injury, despite being manufactured properly. In some cases, the manufacturer knew of the dangers but concealed them; in others, the drug was on the market for a while before it is discovered that the drug caused or increased the risk of certain injuries, such as heart attacks.

Pharmaceutical drugs that are improperly marketed.
These claims involve injuries caused by drugs that have incorrect or incomplete marketing. The marketing of a drug refers to the instructions, warnings, and recommendations for the product. Victims may be able to take legal action if they were injured because of a failure to provide adequate instructions about the safe use of the drug or the failure to provide accurate and complete warnings about possible dangerous side effects of the drug.

Can I file a product liability claim for my injuries?

Dangerous drug cases often involve a combination of these different types of defective product claims. To take legal action and pursue compensation for your injuries and losses, your attorney must prove the following in your product liability case:

1. You suffered injury or illness;
2. The drug you used was defective or marketed improperly, which includes any dangerous side effects that you were not warned about; and
3. The defect or improper marketing caused your injury or illness.

Don’t hesitate to speak with a knowledgeable products liability lawyer if you were harmed by a pharmaceutical drug. Our experienced team at De Castroverde Law Group can help you understand your legal options and assist you in seeking justice. Visit the Dangerous Drugs page on our website for more information.

Understanding Product Liability

Under product liability law, a manufacturer may be held liable for providing a consumer with a defective product. If you or a loved one has been harmed by a defective product, you may have legal grounds to seek compensation.

Product liability claims can involve all types of defective items and a variety of factors, but these cases typically involve three main types of defects.

• Defective Designs. These defects involve flaws in the design that make the product unreasonably dangerous to consumers. The defects are not the result of negligence or errors in the manufacturing process, but rather because the item’s design is inherently dangerous.
• Manufacturing Errors. Many products are defective because of errors that occurred during manufacturing, and in some cases one batch is dangerous while another is perfectly manufactured. These defects are usually the result of negligence on the part of the manufacturer.
• Defective Marketing. Even if a product is manufactured correctly, consumers can be harmed by marketing defects. Marketing defects include the failure to warn consumers of potential hazards of using the product, improper labeling, insufficient instructions, and intentional misrepresentation of the product.

Can I file a product liability claim?

If you were injured by a defective product, you may be able to pursue compensation from the manufacturer. In order to hold the manufacturer liable for your injuries and losses, you will need to show that they were negligent. There are five basic elements of negligence that must be proved:

1. You were owed a duty of care by the manufacturer.
2. The manufacturer breached the duty of care they owed to you.
3. The manufacturer’s breach of duty was the actual cause of your injuries.
4. The manufacturer’s breach of duty was the proximate cause of your injuries.
5. You sustained quantifiable damages because of the manufacturer’s negligence.

De Castroverde Law Group is dedicated to helping victims of negligence recover the compensation they deserve. Visit our Product Liability page for more information or call our Las Vegas injury lawyers to discuss your case.

Space Heater Causes Henderson House Fire

Four people and one pet were displaced from their home in Henderson this past weekend after their space heater caught the house on fire. The fire is believed to have started after the space heater was left unattended in the home.The Henderson Fire Department responded to the blaze around 1:00 p.m. at a two-story home near Arroyo Grande Boulevard and Sunset Road. Firefighters saw smoke rising above the roof and quickly tried to squelch the flames. The fire was located in the second-floor bathroom and promptly extinguished. 

No one was home at the time of the fire and there were no injuries; however, the fire caused significant property damage. The fire department estimates that repairs on the home will cost approximately $50,000. Henderson fire investigators have determined that the fire was a complete accident and was solely the result of the unattended space heater.

Space Heaters and Products Liability 

In recent years, space heaters have caused countless fires throughout the country, even leading the products to be banned in most workplaces. If a fire is caused by a space heater and there was no warning on the product, or if the space heather malfunctioned due to a design or manufacturing defect, then the manufacturer could be held liable for any resulting damages.

Victims of defective products are able to seek financial compensation for their injuries and losses under products liability law. There are three main types of defects recognized by products liability law: manufacturing defects, design defects, and the failure to adequately warn or instruct.

• Manufacturing Defects: the product is defective because some sort of error occurred while it was made, and as a result the product is different than the rest.
• Design Defects: the product’s design is inherently dangerous, and the defect is not the result of a manufacturing error.
• Failure to Adequately Warn or Instruct: the manufacturer fails to provide consumers with adequate warnings about the risks presented by the product or fails to provide instructions about the proper use of the product.

If a victim can prove that their injuries were caused by one of the aforementioned defects, they can file a claim against the manufacturer for compensation.

To learn more about defective product claims, visit the Products Liability page on our website.