The law associated with Product liability, covers the appropriate courses of action available, when defective products have caused personal or property loss or damage. These defects in products include manufacturing, design and/or instructional defects.

Instructional defect is where inadequate labelling and/or instructions for use or warnings are present, and have resulted in injury, loss or damage to person or property.

Product liability law also covers the safety and regulation of Products, including recalls and product safety standards.

Many people are not aware that if they have suffered personal injury and/or property loss or damage, as a result of Faulty products or contaminated food, they may be entitled to compensation. Personal injury or illness caused by either product fault or food contamination can be both debilitating and costly.

Claims for compensation should seriously be considered, where there are long lasting or permanent effects to injury or damage as a result.

Compensation however, is not automatically available if a product is defective. Manufacturers are not treated as insurers of their products, nor are importers, retailers or others who handle products as they make their way to consumers. Product liability law determines which defects are compensable, having regard to the nature of the defect and the circumstances in which loss or damage was suffered.

Manufacturers of all products have a common law duty to ensure that their products are reasonably safe for use and that adequate warnings are provided about any known risks. In order to succeed against the manufacturer of a faulty product or provider of food it is necessary to show:

• that the manufacturer or producer owed the consumer a duty of care and
• that this duty was breached. It is necessary to establish that the manufacturer failed to do something it should have, or did something it should not have, and
• that this failure caused the consumer to suffer an injury. Medical evidence in the form of medical reports from treating doctors are relied upon to establish this element.

Product liability is a complex area of the law and requires experienced professional assistance.

Their expertise in this field will take away some of the pain and suffering you may be experiencing, by way of providing helpful support and appropriate advices on a satisfactory course of action. Time and entitlement constraints are again present, so contact with a Personal Injury Lawyer in your area, should not be delayed.

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