Most consumers’ homes are filled with seemingly safe household products that can cause severe injuries. Step stools, chairs, infant high chairs, weed trimmers and home exercise equipment are only a few household items subject to recent recalls due to defects and safety hazards. Consumers in Florida do not have to prove negligence or intentional wrongdoing on the part of the manufacturer, supplier or retailer to recover damages for injuries. Strict liability law says that when a household product is defective and unreasonably dangerous, the manufacturer or supplier is liable regardless of fault. If a household product caused an injury because it was unsafe or did not perform as intended, you have a potential product liability claim.
When manufacturers fail to warn consumers of a product’s risk of harm, or fail to provide proper instructions for a product, the maker can be held liable. Products such as bedding, hair dyes, household cleaners and cosmetics have injured thousands of people over the years, despite passing strict federal guidelines for safety. Other products harmful to consumers include:
- Defective drywall – there is a condition called Chinese Drywall Fatigue linked to tremendous property damage as well as fatigue, bloody noses, congestion, acne, muscle pain and other physical ailments.
- Lawnmower injuries – a popular job for kids, defective and poorly made lawnmowers injure thousands of people every year.
- Table saw injuries – there are over 3,000 amputations from defective table saws every year, according to federal regulators.
An injured consumer has to show that the product was defective and caused the injury or death.
Do you have a potentially dangerous product in your home?
Colson Hicks Eidson – Florida injury lawyers
