Product Liability

Ready To Fight For You

Product Liability Attorneys Southern Illinois

Product Liability Lawyer Southern Illinois. You should expect to be able to go to a store, purchase goods you need, and be confident that they will work reliably and safely. However, this is not always the case and defective or dangerous products do indeed make it onto retail shelves. Even more unfortunate is that oftentimes companies will know that some of their products can be harmful but still allow them to be sold to consumers, despite the fact that they are legally responsible for producing reasonably safe goods.

At Hassakis & Hassakis, we believe that massive corporations should be held to a standard of care that anyone should have when they sell a potentially dangerous product to consumers all over Southern Illinois. Unlike injury claims, it can be difficult to prove that the manufacturer of a product or another party is responsible for your injuries caused by a product, but over the years, the legal system has streamlined the process for victims looking to obtain compensation for product liability. Our experienced Southern Illinois product liability lawyers have helped Southern Illinois residents just like you for more than 70 years and are ready to take your product liability case.

What Is Product Liability?

Product liability is when a defective product has caused an injury to you or someone you know. Under Illinois law, you can bring a claim against the manufacturer, seller, or distributor of a product to receive compensation for harms and losses suffered as a result of a defect.

Defects can happen for a number of reasons but, in many cases, it’s because companies rush products to market without ensuring they are safe so that they can drive the maximum amount of profits. They then don’t take the time to warn the public of known dangers.

These defects can fall into three major categories:

• Design defects - These are defects that are inherent in the product design; thus, each product produced from this initial design is unreasonably dangerous. If you allege that a product has a design defect, you may be required to prove or show that a safer design could’ve been used by the manufacturer. Examples of defectively designed products could include space heaters that catch fire due to improper wiring, airbags that unnecessarily deploy without an impact, cars that are top-heavy and are more likely to tip over even in minor accidents, etc.
• Manufacturing defects - These are defects in the manufacturing stage in which the product is not created as it should be according to its intended design. This can affect only one or up to millions of units sold and can occur at any stage in the product’s construction. Examples of manufacturing defects could include cars with defective brakes that cause brake failure accidents, children’s bicycles assembled without the necessary bolts that keep the front wheel attached, tires that were originally designed to hold up against wear and tear but a mistake in the manufacturing caused a tire blowout.
• Warning defects - This is a failure (or defect) in the marketing of potentially dangerous products to consumers. In short, when the product does not come with the necessary and appropriate warnings and/or instructions, there are significant risks of injury. Examples can include prescription drugs that do not list all the potential side effects, booster seats that lack instruction on the proper weight in which a child should be in order to safely use them, etc.

Commonly Defective Products

• Kitchen appliances
• Cell phones
• Car parts (brakes, tires, etc.)
• Children's toys
• Child safety seats
• Cleaning products
• Medical equipment
• Prescription drugs
• Contaminated food