Consumer Safety 101: Three More Types of Product Liability Cases

When you purchase a product or pay for a service, you expect it to be safe to use. However, sometimes that expectation isn’t met, and things go wrong. Many people do not know that accountability for injuries can extend beyond manufacturing and design flaws. Our trusted Personal Injury attorneys will walk you through the three main types of product liability cases, such as breach of warranty, strict liability, and negligence, and explain what each could mean for you.

Breach of Warranty

A warranty is a promise, either written or implied, that a product or service will work as intended. It comes from the manufacturer and gives consumers the right to take legal action if that promise isn’t kept. There are three types of warranties that exist:

• Written warranty: A formal, legally binding promise provided in writing by a seller or manufacturer, guaranteeing that a product will meet standards. For example, if someone buys a mattress that comes with a 10-year warranty, it might cover issues like broken springs or material defects during that period.
• Oral warranty: This is communicated verbally. For example, if a car salesman tells a buyer that a used car has a brand-new transmission and will run smoothly for at least a year, that’s considered an oral warranty.
•  Implied warranty: An unwritten promise that a product will do what it’s supposed to. For example, if you buy a space heater and it breaks five minutes after plugging it in, you may still be protected. That is true even without a written or verbal guarantee because the law expects basic products to be safe and functional.

Understanding these types of warranties allows consumers to recognize when their rights have been breached.

Strict Liability

Strict liability is a legal principle that holds someone responsible for damages or injuries, even if they didn’t mean to cause them or weren’t directly at fault. The injured person doesn’t have to prove the other party did anything wrong, just that their actions (or product) led to the injury. Examples of strict liability include:

• Defective products: Anyone involved in making or selling a faulty product can be held liable if it causes harm.
• Dangerous animals: If someone owns a wild or dangerous animal and it hurts someone, they will be responsible, no matter the precautions taken.
• High-risk activities: People involved in inherently dangerous activities can be held accountable if someone gets hurt, even if they were being careful.

The focus is on whether the product was dangerous or defective, not whether the company or individual specifically did anything wrong.

Negligence

Negligence happens when someone fails to act with reasonable care and ends up causing harm to someone else. Examples of this in non-product-liability situations include:

• A driver who is distracted by their phone while driving runs a red light and causes a colliding accident.
• A store owner does not clean up a spill, leading to a customer slipping.

To win a negligence case, the injured person has to show that the other party had a duty to act responsibly, didn’t follow through, and caused harm because of it.

Consult With A Product Liability Attorney at Jan Dils

If you or someone you love has been hurt by a dangerous product, you don’t have to navigate the legal system alone. At Jan Dils, the largest female-founded law firm in the U.S., our team is here to help you understand your rights and fight for the compensation you deserve.

We’ve helped clients all across West Virginia, and we are ready to help you too. Contact us today for a free consultation.